A US environmental protection leader says China needs to look at
efficient use of energy in its efforts to reduce carbon
emissions.
That is by far the most important thing the country should do to
control pollution and its ill effects, said Denis Hayes, co-founder
of Earth Day in a recent interview with China Daily.
Hayes is now president of the Seattle-based Bullitt
Foundation.
Earth Day, jointly initiated by Gaylord Nelson and Hayes, was
first observed on April 22, 1970, when an estimated 20 million
people all over the United States took part in the grassroots
environmental movement. On April 22, 1990, more than 200 million
people in over 140 countries participated in Earth Day
celebrations, making the day an internationally celebrated one.
And it is now still celebrated each April 22.
China has for a long time appeared to be doing much better than
the rest of the world in terms of increasing the amount of domestic
products per unit of energy consumed, Hayes said.
But over the last few years, the country has been producing
substantially fewer domestic products per unit of energy consumed,
which means that it is falling back and using energy much more
inefficiently.
He suggested that prices of energy resources can be a very
powerful driver in enhancing efficiency.
As the costs for energy resources get more expensive, people and
industries tend to become more efficient, he said.
With the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto
Protocol, Hayes said there is a good chance that countries,
particularly those in Europe, may want to invest in China.
The Kyoto Protocol aims to cut greenhouse gases and curb global
warming. It came into effect in February.
Under CDM, developed countries can conduct emission-reduction
projects in developing countries through financial and technical
cooperation and they in turn get emissions credits.
(China Daily May 5, 2005)