It has been a busy time for the climate. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited China to urge President Hu Jintao to attend the UN General Assembly High-level Session on Climate Change, US President Barack Obama met with Chinese ministers in the US as part of the Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue confirming his visit to China later this year, and many parts of China have been hit by extreme weather that has claimed many lives. And the "blame-China-for-climate-change" game is rearing its ugly head again. But this game, which some developed countries have become so adept at playing, will not lead us anywhere. It will take Herculean efforts by all countries, not just China, to save the world from the wrath of climate change.
The developed world should realize that the developing countries have the added burden of alleviating poverty and dealing with serious development issues while continuing to fight against global warming.
As one of China's top economists, Hu An'gang, said recently: "Humankind's greatest challenge in the 21st century is climate change. Humankind's greatest threat is climate poverty. And humankind's greatest duty is reducing the number of people suffering because of it."
China has openly acknowledged that the old model of development - ensure development even with rising pollution and then fight the pollution - is no longer working for China. The challenge China faces in the search for a new development model is much greater than any country has encountered.
The Chinese government has realized that continued reliance on coal to power its economic growth comes at heavy economic, environmental and social costs. Premier Wen Jiabao has said: "Most of China's energy is derived from coal (and hence, it) must take the responsibility to reduce pollution and emissions". That can be done only if the country reduces its use of coal.
In the mission to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, all sections of Chinese society, including the power companies - the major coal users and GHG emitters - have a role to play.
A recent Greenpeace report, Polluting Power: Ranking China's Biggest Power Companies, shows the top 10 power companies and their heavy reliance on coal are hindering the country's fight against climate change. These 10 companies generate almost 60 percent of the country's electricity and consume 20 percent of the coal. They emit an equivalent of 1.44 billion tons of CO2, too.
Last year, the country's top three power companies' GHG emissions were equal to the UK's total. But over the last few years, the power companies have also shut down small coal-fired plants with the capacity to generate 54.07 gigawatts, or Australia's total installed electricity capacity.
Although China's emission trajectory is likely to keep climbing for some time because coal is the major economic driver, the country is moving ahead ambitiously with changes in its energy policy on several fronts, from renewable energy and energy efficiency to transportation.
For example, the government has set the most aggressive energy efficiency target in the world, which calls for 20 percent reduction in energy intensity between 2005 and 2010. If successful, it would translate into a GHG emission cut of more than 1.5 billion tons in just five years. In contrast, the European Union's commitment under the Kyoto Protocol is a cut of about 300 million tons between 1997 and 2012.
It is true that China's economic growth is still heavily dependent on coal with more than 70 per cent of its energy needs coming from it. But Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research says China's net exports accounted for 23 percent of its total GHG emissions. This means other, especially developed, countries have a hand in China's rising emission levels.
Yet some developed countries are still using China's growing use of energy as an excuse for not taking any action themselves, despite having sent up an overwhelming majority of GHGs into the atmosphere.
Climate change compels all countries to figure out how to quickly move away from coal. Many studies show China has the potential to become the world leader in the generation and use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The government could do that by introducing a price mechanism that would not only drive power companies away from coal and toward renewable energy, but also ensure that the fuel is used as efficiently as possible during the transition.
The Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference is less than four months away. If world leaders really want to save the planet, they should sound the bugle at the Copenhagen conference to begin a sincere fight against global warming, and the developed countries join their developing counterparts, including China, to prevent further environmental damage instead of revelling in the "blame-China game".
Fitzpatrick is climate & energy campaign advisor of Greenpeace China.
(China Daily August 11, 2009)
