China the pioneer

Date

14 August 2008

By Molly Webb, Head of Smart Technologies, The Climate Group.

I'm not posting about China just because it is the Olympics. Rather it was an article in the China Daily that reminded me how seriously China is taking their energy efficiency targets and how challenging is the task ahead.

First of all, China is committed to energy efficiency:

Under the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-2010), China has pledged to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent, or 4 percent each year. Official statistics show that in 2005, 27.5 percent of China's energy consumption was in the construction sector, with transportation accounting for 16.3 percent and government buildings, 6.7 percent.

And now they are trying to slow the pace of infrastructure build with new national energy standards - being drafted now - which every new 'fixed asset' project will have to meet. That's buildings, factories etc.

The article notes that just 53% of new projects under construction are currently 'keeping their energy saving promises.'

We recently published a report on China's Clean Revolution, and came out bullish. We think that China will lead on innovating new low-carbon solutions. If it does that, it must also be an efficiency leader today, or it will not have a choice but to live with the existing infrastructure.

All eyes are on China and some are hoping it can figure out the leapfrog to sustainability.