Library & Data

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the deliberations of this Commission. My name is Deborah Seligsohn, and I am Senior Advisor to the China Climate and Energy Program at the World Resources Institute. The World Resources Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan environmental think tank that goes beyond research to provide practical solutions to the world’s most urgent environment and development challenges. We work in partnership with scientists, businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations in more than seventy countries to provide information, tools and analysis to address problems like climate change, the degradation of ecosystems and their capacity to provide for human well-being.

China utilizes an array of complementary policy measures to spur domestic R&D and innovation in clean technology. These measures include:

• designing a national-level S&T strategy prioritizing clean energy;
• establishing direct funding programs to support clean energy R&D;
• capitalizing on public-private synergies to bring together multi-sector expertise;
• pursuing a “going-out” policy of global engagement on clean energy development; and
• incentivizing the involvement of the private sector in clean tech innovation.

Complementing the 863 Program, which focuses on specific technologies, is the National Basic Research Program, also called the “973 Program.” Since its inception, core focuses of the 973 program have been energy, natural resources conservation, and environmental protection. From 1998 to 2008, the program supported 382 projects with a total funding level of 8.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion), of which 28% went to energy, natural resources conservation and environmental protection.

In the past five years government R&D appropriations have increased dramatically, from 70.3 billion yuan ($11 bil) in 2001 to 168.9 billion yuan ($26 bil) in 2006. As a result, the share of R&D in total government expenditure increased from 3.7% to 4.2% from 2001 - 2006 (MOST 2007). Among the various publicly-funded S&T programs, the 863 & 973 programs provide the most direct funding sources for clean technologies.