Curbing Global Warming

According to figures from the State Environmental Protection Administration, China’s energy consumption per 10,000 yuan ($1,342) of gross domestic product (GDP) went down from the equivalent of 2.68 tons of coal in 1990 to 1.43 tons in 2005. Over these 15 years, China saved energy totaling 800 million tons of coal equivalent, which led to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 1.8 billion tons. Over the same period, China has expanded the plantation of trees, which have absorbed 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Forests absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 500 million tons every year.
That means that without China’s forceful measures to cut carbon dioxide emissions, at least 7 billion tons more carbon dioxide would have been expelled into the atmosphere every year.

Practical measures

Although China is the second biggest national greenhouse gas emitter only after the United States, China’s per-capita carbon dioxide discharge is 3.65 tons, only 87 percent of the world average level.

In 2002, China ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect in 2005. Although developing countries like China were not included in any numerical limitations of the protocol, the country still takes effective measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and offset the effects of expelled carbon dioxide.

Gao Guangsheng, an official of the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the government is fighting against global warming through direct and indirect measures. Direct measures include closing down or conducting technical reforms of small factories that cause heavy pollution or have high energy consumption levels. Indirect measures include planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide. In 2006 alone, the Central Government invested a total of 25.6 million yuan ($3.4 million) in energy preservation and reduction of carbon dioxide.

The government has attached enormous attention to transforming economic growth models and adjusting economic structures, and regards lowering energy consumption, clean production and preventing industrial pollution as important elements of industrial policy.

China has also embarked on improving its energy mix through developing low- carbon energies and renewable energies. Among the composition of China’s primary energy consumption, the proportion of coal dropped from 76.2 percent in 1990 to 68.9 percent in 2005. Over the same period, the proportions of petroleum, natural gas and hydropower rose from 16.6 percent, 2.1 percent and 5.1 percent to 21 percent, 2.9 percent and 7.2 percent respectively. In 2006 the consumption of renewable energy in China reached 167 million tons of coal equivalent, accounting for 7.5 percent of total energy consumption. This equals reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 380 million tons.

The Chinese Government has set a goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and reducing major pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010. In order to achieve this goal, the government plans to close down small thermal power units of 50 million kw. The goal for 2007 of shutting down units of 10 million kw has been accomplished.

China is also actively developing the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a flexible financing instrument defined in the Kyoto Protocol that enables developing countries to benefit from the reduction of emissions of harmful greenhouse gases and promotion of sustainable development. According to the latest release from the Office of the National Coordination Committee on Climate Change under the NDRC, the NDRC had ratified a total of 788 CDM programs by September 4.

Chinese CDM programs include exploring new types of energy, energy preservation projects, the recycling of methane, decomposition of harmful greenhouse gas trifluoromethane and finding new substitute fuels.

The NDRC has listed exploring new energies, developing renewable energies, energy preservation, enhancing energy efficiency and expanding the recycling of methane and coal-seam gas as key CDM projects.

Besides measures to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, China is putting even more effort into planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide.

Besides measures to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, China is putting even more effort into planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide. China has a total of 54 million hectares of man-made forests, which ranks top in the world. Due to the measures of planting new trees and protecting existing forests, China’s forest area has achieved substantial growth. The country has maintained 175 million hectares of forests, which covers about 18.21 percent of the land.

According to a study by Chinese environmental experts, the trees China planted between 1980 and 2005 have absorbed a total of 3.06 billion tons of carbon dioxide; the forests are still absorbing carbon dioxide at a rate of 500 million tons per year.

Attending the 15th Economic Leaders’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Sydney in September, Chinese President Hu Jintao advocated the promotion of China’s experience of planting trees to curb global warming, which received media attention and positive comments from other countries. China has announced plans to raise its forest coverage rate from the current 18.2 percent to 20 percent by 2010.

In the joint proposal between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued at the China-ASEAN Forestry Cooperation Forum on October 30, both sides agreed to reduce the felling of trees and increase forest coverage in order to slow down global warming.

The Chinese Government’s keen attention to global warming led to the establishment of a leading panel to work on responding to climate change under the State Council, headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, in June this year. China was also the first developing country to issue a national action plan on climate change, which specifies the country’s specific goals, basic principles, key areas and policies for curbing climate change by 2010.

The Chinese Government is also combining its efforts in curbing climate change with the implementation of sustainable development strategies and the construction of a resource-saving, environment-friendly and innovation-oriented society.

“As a developing country, China is shouldering more and more responsibility in curbing climate change and reducing greenhouse gases,” said Gao.

Goals for next five years

China will reduce the emission of nearly 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year by 2010, about 2.5 times of the current capacity of 400 million tons.

Through promotion of energy preservation technologies, energy consumption per unit of GDP in 2010 will be 20 percent lower than that of 2005, which can be transformed into reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Policies leveraging the development of metallurgy, construction material and chemical industries have been issued to develop recycling and raise energy efficiency, such as stabilizing the emission of nitrous oxide in production at the level of 2005 by 2010.

The government has taken measures to expand the use of biogas and control the growing speed of methane emissions.

“The key measure is to overhaul the energy mix,” said Gao.

China is one of the few countries to rely on coal as its leading fuel source.

China is one of the few countries to rely on coal as its leading fuel source. Of China’s total primary energy consumption in 2005, totaling 2.233 billion tons of coal equivalent, coal consumption made up 68.9 percent, petroleum 21 percent and other energies including natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, wind power and solar power occupied 10.1 percent.

In contrast, of the global primary energy consumption of the same year, coal consumption accounted for merely 27.8 percent, petroleum 36.4 percent and natural gas, hydropower and nuclear power totaled 35.8 percent. China’s heavy reliance on coal consumption has made the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions a particularly daunting challenge for China.

China’s national action plan on climate change stated how the reduction of 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2010 can be realized. The exploitation of hydropower could reduce emissions by 500 million tons; the development of nuclear power could cut emissions by 50 million tons; upgrading thermal power generation facilities and dismissing small thermal power units could reduce emissions of 110 million tons; the expanded use of coal-seam gas could reduce emissions of 200 million tons; the development of bio-energy could reduce emissions by 30 million tons; and the development of wind power, solar power, terrestrial heat and wave power could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by another 60 million tons.

The Central Government has encouraged and designed incentives for financial institutions loaning money to projects of environmental protection and pollution reduction as well as offering taxation incentives to these projects. As for high-pollution factories and high-energy consuming-companies, the State Environmental Protection Administration and NDRC have advised financial institutions against loaning money to these companies.

Seeking international support

Gao said China’s backward production of energy and low efficiency in energy use are the two reasons for China’s colossal greenhouse gas emissions.

Technologies in energy exploitation, transformation and transportation in China lag far behind advanced industrial countries. Meanwhile, backward production facilities still account for a large percentage of China’s key industrial sectors. For example, energy consumption per ton of steel in small companies is about 200 kg of coal equivalent larger than that of big companies that produce both iron and steel.

Therefore, technological upgrades will play an important role in China’s efforts to curb climate change. China also badly needs international technological cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the National Climate Change Program, China needs technical support on atmosphere observation, ocean and terrestrial ecosystem protection, earth resource and ocean resource satellite remote sensing, climate change monitoring and testing and calculation in climate models. China is in need of international cooperation in these fields.

China is engaged in a series of large-scale infrastructure construction projects, which demand the installment of greenhouse gas reduction technologies, such as high-efficiency low-pollution thermal power technology, nuclear power technology and renewable energy technology. The failure to install these technologies would lead to high emissions of greenhouse gases from these facilities in the coming decades.

The introduction of technologies in these fields from abroad will greatly boost China’s capacity to curb climate change, said Gao.