Beijing’s air quality fell short of national standards on 179 days last year. That is one reason why the world’s biggest coal consumer is likely to stick with its plan to clean up its energy supply — regardless of what US president-elect Donald Trump does in the US.
“At the current stage of China’s economic growth, the industries and the models that the nation has developed all face constraints related to the environment and resources,” said Xuan Xiaowei (宣曉偉), a senior research fellow at a government think tank called the Development Research Center of the State Council. “Environmental pollution is so serious. Can it work without green development?”
By any account, China must curb environmental pollution to keep its public happy. About 80 percent of the 338 Chinese cities regularly monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection failed to meet official standards last year, it said.
Photo: AP
Resentment about worsening pollution has created cottage industries of everything from smartphone applications to low-cost monitoring devices to keep track of air quality.
Responding to a groundswell of public anger about smog levels, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) threatened last year to punish polluters with an “iron hand.” He also promoted green energy.
“The government has placed a very high priority on measures to help curb pollution,” said Dong Liansai (董連賽), a Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy campaigner.
China has been the biggest clean-energy investor since 2012, spending US$384.7 billion in that period on clean sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, and it is holding onto that lead.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China invested US$48.1 billion in new clean energy projects so far this year, compared with US$9.6 billion in Japan and US$32.6 billion in the US.
China accounted for US$21.9 billion of the US$61.1 billion in global green bond sales this year, the data showed.
The nation, which last year sold less than US$1 billion of the debt whose proceeds are earmarked for environmental projects, is accelerating regulation to channel funds toward reducing pollution, Moody’s Investors Service said in a recent report.
The results of all that spending are gradually beginning to appear. Coal accounted for 64.4 percent of total energy consumption last year, down 1.7 percentage points from the previous year, while the share of non-fossil fuels rose by 0.8 percentage points to 12 percent, the government said in January.
“Investing in cleaner energy will help China to gain economic benefits and improve the transition of its energy structure,” said Zheng Xinye (鄭新業), associate dean at the School of Economics at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.
China accounts for nine of the world’s 10 biggest solar manufacturers, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) data. Almost eight out of every 10 panels worldwide are made in the country.
Since 2012, China’s solar capacity has surged more than sevenfold, while wind has almost doubled amid a push by the nation to generate 15 percent of its power from renewable energy and nuclear by 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
China surpassed Germany as the country with the most installed solar capacity after record additions last year. The nation’s total wind capacity was almost double that of the US last year.
“Global warming is actually happening, no matter who the president is,” said Qian Jing (錢晶), a vice president of Chinese solar-panel maker JinkoSolar Holding Co. “No matter how the US’s climate policies change, China should take the lead.”
China’s push to develop renewables has lifted many companies, creating huge global players. Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co installed the most wind power in the world last year, becoming the first Chinese company to take the top spot in BNEF’s global onshore-wind rankings.
Trina Solar Ltd became the world’s largest solar panel-maker in 2014. The Changzhou, China-based company also says it is setting records with its technology, saying in October that it reached a record 19.86 percent efficiency for a low-cost form of polysilicon module.
China’s leadership in climate negotiations was on full display over the past two weeks at UN climate talks, when ministers and government officials from almost 200 countries gathered in Marrakech, Morocco.
While Trump’s past assertion that global warming is a hoax created by China to make US manufacturing non-competitive left many delegates obsessing over what future role the US will play, Beijing pressed ahead with the case to take action on global warming.
Xi then told leaders of the APEC forum in Lima, Peru, on Saturday that he aimed to boost global trade and provide a level playing field for foreign companies. Days earlier, Beijing indirectly chided Trump for his views on global warming, which the president-elect has called a Chinese hoax to hurt US manufacturing.
“Why not keep supporting green development?” said Sophie Lu, head of China research for London-based BNEF. “If China stays green, it maintains both moral leadership abroad and helps to support” green industries, which it dominates.
China’s domestic economy is restructuring and its investment into more coal capacity does not make money any more, Lu said.
“Instead, it needs to focus on new economy sectors, which depends on happy or productive workers living in healthy and clean cities,” she said.
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