Recent Climate Change News in the Chinese Media
Filed Under Climate Change, Environmental News
By Stephen Leonelli · February 9, 2010 · Leave a comment
Zhang Shan: economic significance of climate negotiations has already surpassed World Trade negotiations (Google translation)
On January 31, the UNFCCC requested national governments announce whether or not they will associate with the Copenhagen Accord. Zhang Shan, an NGO observer to the COP15 talks in December of last year, offers a detailed analysis regarding the Copenhagen Accord in this opinion piece. Zhang asserts that signing the Accord will force the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, and China) countries to accept unilateral concessions from developed countries; will perpetuate global criticism of China in the media; will target the US and China as victimizers of small, weak nations; will not reduce or mitigate damage caused by climate change to BASIC countries, due to weak emissions reduction commitments from the West; will cause further disunity among developing nations, and BASIC will be portrayed as “selling out”; and finally, will allow the US and EU to use BASIC’s support of the Accord to ultimately weaken the UN and reframe the climate debate into a bilateral or Major Economies Forum-dominated dispute. Zhang suggests China respond to Western and developed nations’ critiques by emphasizing a unified front among developing nations, highlighting the negative and urgent impact climate change is causing in China—especially on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau—and developing a “China Climate Fund” to invest in mitigation and adaptation strategies for other developing countries. (Source: China Economics)
7 civil society organizations propose more active participation in addressing climate disasters (Google translation)
The Chinese Civil Society Group, comprised of Friends of Nature, Global Village of Beijing, Green Earth Volunteers, Public Environment Research Center, Greenpeace, Oxfam, and Action Aid, issued a joint report this week detailing the ways NGOs can be more involved in responding to climate disasters. The research began in early 2008 in response to the blizzard that shook China, and the authors included other extreme climate events in the past two years, highlighting the important role that NGOs and civil society organizations play in addressing climate change. (Source: First Financial Daily)
China sets about implementing actions to reach 2020 intensity reduction target (Google translation)
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) launched its first conference specifically for addressing climate change in Beijing last week. NDRC Minister, Zhang Ping, and vice Minister, Xie Zhenhua, attended the meeting and reiterated China’s active attitude toward addressing climate change in the next 5-year plan and beyond. In addition, Xie summarized China’s current climate change challenges in 3 major aspects: controlling greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate change, and enhancing capacity-building strategies to address climate change. (Source: China Economic Herald)
China’s renewable energy consumption has reached 9.9% (Google translation)
At the 4th New Energy International Summit Forum, China released statistics that show China’s renewable energy use as a proportion of total energy consumption has increased from 8.4% in 2008 to 9.9% in 2009. Current plans are to increase this proportion to 15% by 2020, and although Chinese officials expressed confidence that this seemingly increase could be reached, the growing energy demands of China are a complicating factor in this process. Over the next decade China will increase hydropower capacity to 300 million kilowatts and install nuclear power capacity of 60 – 70 million kilowatts. (Source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Web)
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