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14. Correct Choices for China: Energy Conservation, a Cyclic Economy, and a Conservation-Minded Society
- Brookings Institution Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took effect in February 2005, marking a substantial step toward reducing global greenhouse gases. It was the result of joint efforts made by many countries during the ten years after the UN treaty went into force in March 1994. China is a developing nation with a huge population, most of low income and vulnerable to climate change. The country has always attached great importance to the problem and has been actively involved in international efforts to combat the greenhouse effect. It has also adopted effective countermeasures and honored its obligations under the convention. In recent years, China has taken the following measures in the global war on climate change. —In 2002 the Ministry of Science and Technology published its 2001– 2010 Program for Sustainable Development of Science and Technology, initiated the compilation of the National Assessment Report on Climate Change, and launched China Climate Change Info Net, a web resource.1 —In 2003 (based on China’s Agenda Twenty-One, the white paper on China’s Population, Environment, and Development in the Twenty-First Century, Correct Choices for China: Energy Conservation, a Cyclic Economy, and a Conservation-Minded Society shen longhai 14 215 10865-15_CH14_rev.qxd 12/10/07 11:45 AM Page 215 published in 1994) the government promulgated the Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early Twenty-First Century. —In 2004 China formally submitted The People’s Republic of China Initial National Communication on Climate Change to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention. It also implemented the Interim Measures for Operation and Management of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Projects in China. In addition the government published The China Medium- and Long-Term Energy Conservation Plan and adopted a national energy development strategy aimed at optimizing energy conservation, improving energy structure, diversifying energy sources, strengthening environmental protection, and advancing technology and innovation. —In 2005 China passed the Renewable Energy Law to promote the development of such new or renewable energy sources as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. —In 2007 the government formulated China’s National Climate Change Programme and devised a national strategy to tackle the impact of climate change in line with the principles embodied in the convention. A Look Back For more than two decades China has made active contributions to the ongoing global fight against climate change by adopting policies and measures for controlling population increase, improving energy efficiency, and expanding highquality energy supply. A number of natural factors and human activities are responsible for climate change. Human activities cause greenhouse gas emissions as a result of energy use and farm-based methane production. From 1978 to 2004 China achieved an average increase of about 9 percent in its gross domestic product (GDP), underpinned by about an average annual 5 percent growth in energy consumption. In other words, with more than 900 million tons of coal equivalent saved, 50 percent of the energy needed to power China’s economic growth was secured through production, while the remaining 50 percent was obtained via conservation. During the same period China improved energy efficiency from 26 percent to 33 percent, reducing energy consumption per unit of output value. For example, it cut down on the energy consumption per ton of steel production by more than 30 percent. The energy conservation campaign resulted in a dramatic cut in the release of greenhouse gases, as exemplified by a reduction of nearly 600 million tons in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from 1981 to 2000. China’s socioeconomic development has encountered deep-rooted contradictions and problems accumulated over long years; these problems—energy supply and security, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental protection—constitute 216 shen longhai 10865-15_CH14_rev.qxd 12/10/07 11:45 AM Page 216 [54.196.27.122] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:38 GMT) both opportunities and challenges for China and are expected to remain in existence in the first two decades of this century. A Look Forward China’s extensive growth pattern has basically not changed since the policy of opening to the outside world was adopted in 1979. To realize its socioeconomic development goals, it is essential for the nation to replace its linear economy with a cyclic economy and build a society that is conservation-minded. In the future, as China continues its road to sustainable and rapid growth, both energy use and the resultant greenhouse gas emissions will tend to increase. By 2020 China will...