Green Development in China
17th September 2010 by Richard Gunawan
China is now officially the world’s second largest economy and has also overtaken the United States to become world’s largest energy consumer. As its economy continues to grow, then so its energy needs will also continue to rise.
The country is focusing on bettering efficiency in energy consumption and is aggressively developing a long-term plan towards renewable energy. In the western media it is still seems fashionable to write unfavorably about China’s efforts to reduce carbon emission but the facts are beginning to tell a different story.
According to Pew Charitable Trust figures released in 2010, China is ahead of the West in terms of sustainable development.
In 2009, China manufactured and installed more wind turbines than any other country and with a wind energy output capacity of around 25GW, it now ranks third in the world.
China is the world’s leading manufacturer of solar panels, has the largest hydro capacity in the world (200 GW) and is building more new nuclear plants than any other country on the planet (see figure 1 below).
China is also committed to utilising efficient coal combustion technologies and is installing extensive networks of ultra high-voltage power grids and dedicated electrified high-speed passenger rail lines.
With an increasing awareness about the issues and implications of climate change at national and community level – with a growing realization about the related social and economic public health costs – China is taking environmental issues seriously.
In 2009, the government announced that it is committed to reducing CO2 emissions (as a proportion of each unit of GDP) by 40 to 45% of 2005 levels by 2020 and increasing numbers of projects are being developed in China under the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
The total value of the world’s CDM market in 2009 was USD2.7 billion and China took a staggering 72% share of this. Increasingly, LRQA is involved in verifying or validating these projects. LRQA’s Asian carbon business is expected to grow by 67% in 2010 and a third of this business will be in China.
Richard Gunawan is Vice President for business and sustainability development for LRQA Asia. He has more than 15 years of commercial experience and is committed to assisting businesses in Asia to mitigate risks and to grow in line with CSR principles. Richard has an MBA and was educated in Australia. He also has spent more [...]