Latest from ChinaFAQs
China Collects Pollution Data from Almost 6 Million Sources
Posted by Deborah Seligsohn on Feb 16, 2010
China just released its first ever pollution census – a national survey that collected data from almost six million separate sources , to which China devoted a reported $100 million and 570,000 staff in the collection effort. In late 2006, China’s State Council made the decision to conduct the survey. The Ministry then spent a year preparing, and the actual data collection took place in 2008. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has issued aggregated data from the study. There have been numerous press reports in both English and Chinese, but intrepid readers can also find what is essentially the Executive Summary of the report on the web in Chinese*, and there is also a speech by the leader of the study describing more of the process and background.
New Resources for China Climate and Energy Information
Posted by Deborah Seligsohn on Feb 8, 2010
For those tracking China climate and energy information, you might want to take a look at these blog entries. Blogger Vance Wagner has just updated his organizational chart for the Chinese government to try to capture the new National Energy Commission under the State Council. This chart is still a work in progress, and Vance says he welcomes comments on how to improve it, but it is extremely useful for seeing who is connected to whom in the Chinese government.
China Records Its Climate Actions By Copenhagen Accord Deadline
Posted by Barbara Finamore on Feb 4, 2010
China’s Commitment
China has submitted its proposed climate mitigation actions to the UNFCCC in a letter dated January 28, ahead of the January 31, 2010 deadline in the Copenhagen Accord. Given Premier Wen Jiabao’s hands-on role, along with President Obama and the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa, in creating the Accord last month, it is encouraging to see China demonstrate its commitment to moving global climate negotiations forward.
In its letter, China reaffirmed its earlier announcement of policies to: (1) reduce its carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 from 2005 levels, (2) increase the share of non-fossil energy in its primary energy consumption to around 15% by 2020, and (3) increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares and forest stock volume by 1.3 billion cubic meters by 2020 from 2005 levels. China noted that these actions will be implemented in accordance with the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC.
New York Times: "China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy"
Posted by Nick Price on Feb 1, 2010
From Keith Bradsher, New York Times:
“TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year.
China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.”
Following the Copenhangen Accord: China Submits Carbon Intensity Target to UNFCCC Secretariat
Posted by Deborah Seligsohn on Feb 1, 2010
As provided for in last month’s Copenhagen Accord, China has now submitted its “mitigation actions” (click HERE to see the text of the letter in our ChinaFAQs Library). While there was much speculation as to which actions China would submit, in the end China has reported the full set of measures first announced by President Hu Jintao at the United Nations in November 2009, and then amplified by the State Council decision on the 40-45% carbon intensity target at the end of November.
