Policymakers in China are thrashing out the details of the next five-year plan. Will it set the country on the path toward a green economy?
For years now, China has been at the receiving end of stinging criticism from the West over its environmental policies, with critics describing it variously as one of the most polluted countries, an insatiable, consumer-driven energy guzzler, and the world’s worst emitter of greenhouse gases.
These labels have been prompted by China’s rapid industrialization and urbanization over the past 30 years, which has allowed it to achieve blistering economic growth, but at enormous cost to its environment. Given the widespread criticism, it’s understandable why many in the West might find it hard to imagine this ‘dirty’ giant ever getting clean.
Yet these difficulties shouldn’t overshadow an encouraging reality—China’s top decision makers are planning to take a more holistic approach to the quest for greener growth that could transform the country’s image.
China’s central government is currently thrashing out details of how best to steer towards greener growth as part of closed-door discussions aimed at finalizing the country’s 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015), which will be announced in March. The plan is expected to become China’s first national plan to shift the development agenda decisively toward a pattern of green growth, accelerating the country’s efforts at green modernization. Expect ‘establishing a low carbon society’ to be a key political slogan over the next five years.
With a limit to the amount of fossil fuel it can access, and with these fuels anyway creating significant environmental damage and associated socioeconomic problems, China’s top leadership seems to be realizing that the old ‘growth at all costs’ model that has previously been followed threatens not only the country’s energy security, but its very survival. A green development pathway based on low energy consumption and low carbon emissions is essential if China is to find a sustainable path to growth.
The environmental aspects of the plan are likely to be boiled down to five key points that will be presented to the public and used to measure China’s success in achieving its ambitious targets.
First, the government is believed to be considering using green indices as a yardstick for evaluating the performance of local officials. Water consumption per unit of GDP, proportion of clean coal consumption utilized, and the proportion of GDP invested in environmental protection will all be integrated into the indices. The idea is that this will force local governments to strengthen resource efficiency and improve ecofriendliness in key sectors such as heavy industry, construction, and transportation. Gone will be the days when the rate of GDP growth is the sole determinant of success.
Second, China aims to gradually establish a carbon trading system to help it meet its 2020 carbon intensity target of reducing CO2 emissions as a proportion of each unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent of 2005 levels. Policymakers are expected to view carbon trading as a market-oriented, cost-effective way of supplementing current administrative measures to reduce emissions and genuinely shift the country’s ‘brown’ economy to a ‘green’ one. A cap-and-trade market is also expected to be up and running by 2014, while over the next couple of years, carbon trading programmes will most likely focus on pilot schemes in economic zones and/or industrial sectors such as the coal-fire power generation sector.
Photo Credit: Flickr / Land Rover Our Planet
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Joe
China sure needs a green revolution. Their air and water quality is atrocious. I’d have to disagree with Valbonne. China may have Taoist roots, but they aren’t committing to green technologies because they respect the Earth. Their efforts are clearly an attempt to save the government from the public backlash that would ensue if they continued pillaging their environment, and to benefit from green business as it starts to takeoff.
typhoonq
I am certain China is totally committed in going Green and reduce pollution.
Most people are not awared my country Singapore have a Ongoing joint Venture with Tianjin to develope a Singapore Tianjin Eco-City.
It emphasise in developing a Socially, harmonious, environmentally friendly and resource-conserving city in China. This project was launched in 2008.
Designed to be practical, scalable and replicable and will eventually be a model city to be replicated in other cities in China.
Please ref: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Singapore_Tianjin_Eco-city
I am proud to say that my country had played a significant role in helping China in it’s modernisation. In early 1980″s Our Economic Minister was seconded to China to set up the first five Economic Free Trade Zone after Deng Visit to Singapore. He chose Singapore as a Role model for many of China city planning.
i.e. Urban development, Garden City concept, Health Care, Low cost housing,
Industrial Parks (Singapore set up the first Industrial park in Suzhou and eventually replicated in other parts of China.)
We also provide Special Training courses for Chinese mayor’s class in Public Administration and Economics at our Nanayang Technological University.
In it’s 13th year, it had trained more than 1,000 Chinese mayors.
Leongkidlat
If Communist China is propagating green technology then I congratulate them for their valiant efforts.
Valbonne
Until early 20th century, most part of China remains “Green” despite 5000 years of land use. In most countries, they have already turned into semi-desert or desert for such an intensive agricultural use.
Why, because Chinese Taoism teaches the balance of men and nature. Other countries do not have such a Taoist culture as the Chinese. Today, it is not surprise that China has gone “Green”.
Paddy O
Hey, thanks for reminding the world that China has always been this, that, and the other. At all times. Before all others. I can’t wait to find out that it actually was the Chinese who made it to the moon first.
Conspiracy
Sorry, sorry Pad
didn`t you know, that NASA was never on the moon ^^
all hoolywood fake
Wag the dog, man
Chinawatcha
Good on you, China. The plan and the effort put into implementing the plan will show the World that it is possible to make changes to the enviroment. For those people who are criticising China, look at what your Goverment is doing for your country, in terms of the enviroment before you say something.