New Report Applauds China’s ‘Clean Revolution’

Just in time for the Olympics, a report from an international non-profit group has crowned China the world’s current leader in terms of installed renewable capacity. The report, “China’s Clean Revolution,” was released August 1—the final version will come out on August 8—by the Climate Group, an organization based in the USA, Australia, the UK, India and China, which seeks to “[advance] business and government leadership on climate change.”

Here are some main numbers from the report:

• As of 2007, China had an installed renewable capacity of 152 gigawatts.

• In 2007, China invested $12 billion US in renewable energy, an investment second only to that of Germany.

• Payback periods on energy efficiency improvements are generally two years.

In terms of solar, the numbers are equally exciting:

• China’s six largest solar photovoltaic manufacturers had a combined market value surpassing $15 billion US as of July 2008.
• China’s solar water heater market is worth over $2 billion a year, and still growing at over 20 percent a year.
• By the end of 2007, China had 820 megawatts of solar photovoltaic production, a quantity exceeded only by Japan.
• “Output of solar panels has doubled for each of the last four years.”

Add to all this the figures of China’s massive growth in its hydroelectric, wind turbine and ethanol production and markets, and the report indeed gives cause for joy. With the country’s combination of short payback periods on energy efficiency improvements, low costs, encouraging government policies and thriving green business environment, it appears as if there is only growth up ahead, and hope for heavy emitters who haven’t yet committed to binding emissions cuts (hello, America!) to do so. Indeed, the Climate Group’s CEO, Steve Howard, says:

“For too long, many governments, businesses and individuals have been wary of committing to action on climate change because they perceive that China – the world’s largest emitter – is doing little to address the issue. However, the reality is that China’s government is beginning to unleash a low carbon dragon which will power its future growth, development and energy security objectives.”

Still, we must keep in mind that much of this energy goes into exports, and that in China coal is still king. Local officials—those who truly carry out many of the nation’s theoretically green initiatives—are in large part responsible for whether or not an area goes “green” or not. However, considering that emissions from China alone would be equivalent to that of the rest of the world if the country’s 1.3 billion citizens ever emitted as much CO2 per capita as Americans do (they are currently responsible for 24 percent of total global emissions), the speed at which the aforementioned factors undergo tremendous change—and change they must—is crucial to China’s true “clean revolution.”