The huge business opportunities associated with China's energy-saving and environmental protection drive are certainly something worth touting to garner support for the country's efforts to go green.
It is estimated, according to a senior Chinese trade official, China's bid for a cleaner environment can bring as much as $300 billion in business opportunities in the coming five years.
That means China will become a major buyer of energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies and equipment in the international market.
Such a rosy business prospect will likely arouse strong interest among potential "winners" who can benefit considerably from China's energy conservation and environmental protection program.
But it does not mean that it is going to be painless for a developing country like China to pursue higher energy efficiency and a cleaner environment.
China has vowed to cut its per-unit energy consumption by about 20 percent and discharge of pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010.
To achieve the five-year energy and environmental goals, policymakers should give as much attention, if not more, to how the cost of going green will be shared among related groups.
To reduce environmental loss and raise energy efficiency entails a substantial increase in cost for domestic businesses of various financial strengths.
Efforts to encourage the supply of environmentally-friendly and energy-saving technologies and equipment are important to the country's drive to go green. Yet, the more arduous task is to persuade domestic businesses to shift to a cleaner and energy-efficient way of production.
Some domestic enterprises can afford the extra cost of introducing greener technologies and equipment, but many more may not.
Hence, policymakers should come up with needed fiscal and tax incentives as soon as possible to alleviate the financial burden of domestic enterprises to go green.
Without government support, it will be difficult and unfair for enterprises that produce in a greener but more expensive way to compete with those who drag their feet over going green to keep costs low.
In the long run, the more domestic enterprises can achieve in raising energy efficiency, the more the country will gain.
Source: China Daily
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