IEA maps out plan to green growth
IEA maps out plan to green growth
08:34, November 24, 2009 
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The economic downturn has provided a window of opportunity for both China and the world to make progress towards a clean-energy future, said International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka Monday in Beijing.
The financial crisis could bring carbon dioxide emissions down by three percent this year, the steepest drop in the last 40 years, said Tanaka. And this could lower global emissions in 2020 by five percent even in the absence of new government policies, he said.
The IEA suggested China, the world's biggest carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emitter, take this break in massive industrial output to realign its growth model and put the country on a trajectory to green, stable development.
Under the IEA's plan for pollution reduction that anticipates an increase in global temperature of around 2 degrees Celsius, emissions in 2020 need to drop by 3.8 giga tons worldwide with China accounting for 1 giga tons itself.
According to the IEA, China's CO2 emissions should max out at 8.4 giga tons in 2020.
The IEA said improvements in engine designs and increased usage of biofuels could lead to a 100g/km reduction in car emissions by 2020.
Supportive policies coupled with huge investment are required to achieve these goals, said Tanaka.
The IEA director added investment costs would rise to 1.5 percent of the country's GDP, over $2 trillion, by 2030. He also said China's CO2 intensity would decline accordingly by a further 44 percent between 2007 and 2020, having fallen by almost 4 percent a year since 1980.
While acknowledging Chinese government policies to promote renewable energy and the continuing progress towards fully cost-reflective energy pricing, Tanaka also urged the government to diversify into natural gas and continue strong support for less-polluting and zero-carbon technologies.
Tanaka has high hopes for Copenhagen but warned each year of delay adds $500 billion to mitigation costs.
Hu An'gang, a public policy professor at Tsinghua University, said although China has not joined the cap and trade program, it has demonstrated its resolution onto the "green growth path," citing the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), which pledges to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent per unit of GDP production and the total output of sulfur dioxide and CO2 by 10 percent from the 2005 level.
President Hu Jintao pledged in September to curb the country's carbon dioxide emissions by a "notable margin" by 2020.
Source: Globaltimes.cn
The financial crisis could bring carbon dioxide emissions down by three percent this year, the steepest drop in the last 40 years, said Tanaka. And this could lower global emissions in 2020 by five percent even in the absence of new government policies, he said.
The IEA suggested China, the world's biggest carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emitter, take this break in massive industrial output to realign its growth model and put the country on a trajectory to green, stable development.
Under the IEA's plan for pollution reduction that anticipates an increase in global temperature of around 2 degrees Celsius, emissions in 2020 need to drop by 3.8 giga tons worldwide with China accounting for 1 giga tons itself.
According to the IEA, China's CO2 emissions should max out at 8.4 giga tons in 2020.
The IEA said improvements in engine designs and increased usage of biofuels could lead to a 100g/km reduction in car emissions by 2020.
Supportive policies coupled with huge investment are required to achieve these goals, said Tanaka.
The IEA director added investment costs would rise to 1.5 percent of the country's GDP, over $2 trillion, by 2030. He also said China's CO2 intensity would decline accordingly by a further 44 percent between 2007 and 2020, having fallen by almost 4 percent a year since 1980.
While acknowledging Chinese government policies to promote renewable energy and the continuing progress towards fully cost-reflective energy pricing, Tanaka also urged the government to diversify into natural gas and continue strong support for less-polluting and zero-carbon technologies.
Tanaka has high hopes for Copenhagen but warned each year of delay adds $500 billion to mitigation costs.
Hu An'gang, a public policy professor at Tsinghua University, said although China has not joined the cap and trade program, it has demonstrated its resolution onto the "green growth path," citing the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), which pledges to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent per unit of GDP production and the total output of sulfur dioxide and CO2 by 10 percent from the 2005 level.
President Hu Jintao pledged in September to curb the country's carbon dioxide emissions by a "notable margin" by 2020.
Source: Globaltimes.cn
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