Climate Change and China

London School of Economics

Fu Ying 2009 年12 月2 日 18：30

Professor Corbridge,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to talk to you on such an important subject as

climate change.

It’s a special honour, because the LSE is well-known for its

scholarship on climate change and its crucial contribution to this

global debate.

China is a huge country with a population of 1.3 billion. It has

diverse climatic conditions and a fragile environment. The effect

of climate change is a very real threat which we face everyday.

According to Chinese scientists, the average temperature in

China has risen by 1.1 degrees centigrade in the last 5 decades.

It is higher than the reported global average. We are seeing more

frequent bouts of extreme weather in many parts of the country.

Last spring, for example, the most severe drought in 50 years hit

northern China affecting the livelihood of 4 million people.

Environmental damage and climate change is a reality for us.

Out of the world’s most polluted 20 cities, half are in China.

70% of Chinese rivers are polluted to some degree. China has

become the largest carbon emitter of the world.

How have we got here? China has reached this stage when it is

making great endeavours to lift people out of poverty. Unlike

you here, we have condensed 2 centuries of industrialization

into only 30 years.

Now, the Chinese people have woken to the threat and, with the

same zeal that we have embraced industrialization, we are

embracing cleaner development.

In China, climate change is not just a topic for discussion; It’s

backed up with policy and action throughout the country. Let me

share some examples with you.

First, on the legal and policy front. China set forward a

voluntary reduction program for 2006 to 2010 period, including

20% reduction in energy intensity per unit of GDP.

To achieve this, we amended the Law on Energy Saving and the

Law on Renewable Energy. We’ve also set up a strict uation

system for energy efficiency. This enables the central

government to hold provincial leaders accountable for meeting

energy efficiency targets.

Last month, the uation result for 2008 was released on the

web for all to access. Out of 31 provinces and regions, 26

fulfilled emission reduction targets. One can’t underscore

enough the importance of having such transparency as it places

great pressure on those who are not meeting the target.

Beijing is doing better, over-fulfilling its target for 2008, with

over 7%. I am sure the Olympics helped. It has already achieved

over 17% for the 20% target of 2010. At the bottom, you can see

Xinjiang. It is lagging far behind and looks unlikely to meet the

target and would need a lot of help.

Secondly, now the industries have to take very tough decisions

to achieve clean development. Projects with high emission can

no longer go ahead and some existing high emitters are being

phased out.

It is understandably difficult to push through such reforms and

there is, inevitably, resistance. Being a developing country,

shutting down factories means job losses for many who need

them.

For example, we have achieved cutting down the average

consumption of coal per unit of power by 20%, by demolishing

the high-polluting and inefficient power plants. But it led to the

loss of 400,000 jobs.

So the third point is that we have increased and will continue to

increase the percentage of cleaner alternative energy sources.

Low-carbon and energy conservation have become new growth

sectors in China. Many British companies are actively involved

in clean development projects in China.

In the first 9 months of this year, clean energy contributed a

third of China’s newly added power capacity. China now ranks

as first in the world for solar heating and photovoltaic

generation, as well as installed hydro power capacity. You may

be surprised to know, 1 in 10 families in China already use solar

energy. That includes my family. Many new buildings in

Chinese cities are equipped with solar energy. The fact that the

Chinese people are so keen to adopt clean energy is an excellent

indicator of our dedication to a better future.

Next, let’s talk about trees and reforestation. We all know how

trees can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Chinese people have

really taken tree-planting to heart. It has even become

fashionable for young couples to plant trees to mark their

wedding. China has planted more trees than any other country in

the world, with 2.6 billion trees planted. That is 2 trees per

individual, an incredible number.

Last but not least, the only means for China to really achieve its

ambitious plan is through science and technology. This is why

China is investing heavily in research and development. The

country has become a giant laboratory for testing all kinds of

clean energy technologies.

In the latest stimulus package worth 400 billion pound, 15% was

invested in addressing climate change. I am sure you will agree

that it is a huge amount by any standard, especially during the

financial crisis.

Thanks to all these efforts, China is well on track to reach our

targets set for 2010. That would mean a reduction in CO2

emissions of 1.5 billion tons in five years by 2010. This is an

achievement that compares well with the efforts of other

countries.

At the UN climate change summit last September, President Hu

Jintao stated that China would take even further steps to counter

climate change. To follow up, the Chinese government has

announced its targets for 2020 based on 2005 levels.

They include:

- bringing down CO2 per unit of GDP by 40-45%,

- increasing the ratio of non-fossil energy to 15%,

- expanding forest coverage by 40 million hectares, that is

bigger than one and half times the size of United Kingdom.

We will make all these into compulsory and verifiable targets,

within the framework of our domestic development program. I

hope you will appreciate that achieving these targets and further

reducing emission will get increasingly harder.

Let me elaborate on that point. We have already closed down

many of the old and high energy consuming factories, That is to

say, the easier part is done.

Between 1990 to 2005, the per unit GDP energy consumption

came down by 47% and between 2005 to 2010 it will again

come down by 20%. The next will be raising the energy

efficiency of the remaining plants. It’s going to cost more and

involve more sacrifice to reduce further.

This is why investing in research and development is so critical

for us, as only innovation can help China to make that leap. And

this is why we are looking to developed countries for technology

transfer and capacity building.

According to the International Energy Agency, if China fulfils

its target for 2020, it will have reduced its emissions of CO2 by

1 billion tons. That will be a great achievement, given that we

are a developing country and we have equally pressing survival

priorities.

If you would allow me, I’d like to expand on this point; China

may soon become the 2nd largest economy in the world. Yet it

remains a developing country. This is something that many

people often forget. China’s per capita GDP has just passed

3,000 US dollars. UK and US are 13 to 15 times that of China.

China is behind Jamaica and Namibia.

Now, let me ask you all a question: In which year in history do

you think Britain was at the same income level China now is at?

According to British economist Angus Maddison, the answer is

the year 1913.

In per capita GDP terms, China only ranks at 104th place in the

world. It might be a surprise to some of you that China has 135

million people living under one dollar a day. Sometimes even

the most basic things that we take for granted, like water, are

beyond the reach of some Chinese people.

Take for example, in China’s northwest, water is so scarce that

farmers in a village in Gansu province only take three baths in

their entire life, at birth, at marriage and at death.

When discussing climate change, we tend to talk mostly about

facts and figures, but we should not forget that, there is also the

human dimension. Imagine when electricity reaches this

Gansu village, which is what China has been doing, bringing

electricity to every village, not only are the farmers able to drill

deeper for water, but also their children would be able to watch

TV for the first time and see the wonderful outside world. They

of course will dream about a better life and all the things that

come with it.

Who are we to tell them, that they have no right to have what we

have? Who are we to tell them that they can’t live like the

people in Shanghai or London they see on TV? Why can’t they

have ipods, laptops and refrigerators, or even cars?

This is the human dimension, and this is the challenge.

China’s difficult mission is to enable all of its 1.3 billion people

to have the opportunity to realize their dreams, but to achieve it

in an environmentally responsible way.

Now let’s come back to the point about China being the world’s

biggest CO2 emitter. If you look at the figures in per capita

terms, an average Chinese person’s emission is 4.6 tons. An

average American emits 20 tons and Britain 8.7 tons. You can

hardly call China energy greedy, can you?

Yet, according to an FT survey, 63% of Americans believe that

China is not doing enough and that it should undertake more

emission reduction. It feels like a person taking 4 pieces of

bread asking the person who got the first piece of bread to go on

diet.

Between 1750 and 2005, developed countries accounted for

80% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Even today, with only 20%

of the world’s population, developed countries pump more than

55% of the total emissions into the atmosphere. So when it

comes to emissions, developed and developing countries can’t

be compared like for like, not to be painted in the same brush.

This is why we attach so much importance to the UN

Framework Convention on Climate Change, which set out the

principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

This is ultimately about fairness and equal right to development.

The Copenhagen conference will commence in 5 days’ time. It

will be a major milestone in the global effort to tackle climate

change and the people of the world have high hopes on its

outcome. For Copenhagen to be successful, China believes

several things need to happen.

First, developed countries should undertake to achieve

substantial emission reduction targets for the second

commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. Countries that

have not signed up to the Kyoto Protocol should formulate

similar reduction targets.

Second, effective mechanisms should be set up to ensure that

developed countries provide financial and technological support

to developing countries.

Third, developing country should also adopt mitigation

measures according to their national conditions, within the

framework of sustainable development and with financial and

technological support from the developed countries.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the conference. China is

willing to play a constructive role in bringing the negotiations to

a successful conclusion. We look forward to close cooperation

with the UK and the rest of the world in this process.

All in all, climate change is a global challenge, which can only

be resolved through global cooperation. As a mother, I do hope

my daughter and the future generations will breathe clean air

and live in a good environment. So countries should work

together as partners to make sure that our children inherit a

better world.

Thank you.