October 10 (China
Daily) -- Thornton Group Asia
took its first Chinese business steps in infrastructure. Now the strategic
investment and advisory company has taken strides in the field of renewable
energy.
Cooperating with the United States-based
Caletta Renewable Energy,
Thornton
is prepared to partner with local Chinese governments to develop renewable
biomass energy power plants.
That could be good news for Chinese
businessmen who want funds to build biomass incineration power plants - they
can provide local documents that an incineration power plants needs, while
Thornton and Caletta help will help acquire funding and provide their
management experience.
Thornton Group, established 20 years ago in
the
US
, arrived in
Asia
in 2000. It was successful in building roads in
Qinghai
Province
in
Northwest China
last year.
To establish renewable power at competitive
prices processing biomass, renewable energy credits and tipping fees weigh
heavily, and vary from city to city. A waste incineration power plant receives
$
11 a
ton for garbage from the
Hangzhou
municipal government, while in
Shanghai
it receives around $30 per ton.
Michale Lin, CEO of Thornton, says it is where the plant is located that
counts.
"Long-term feed contracts and land
agreements are the paramount factors that an applicant should consider,"
Lin says. "We also need that they have a power purchase agreement from the
government. In
America
,
20-year feed contracts and power purchase agreements are usually needed, but in
China
,
we can negotiate the years of contracts."
"We have cooperated with Caletta for
many years in
America
.
Caletta usually makes the preparations, choosing land and equipment, and then
we render assistance in building government relationships and seeking
financing. We assist Chinese partners in financing, while Caletta can offer
technology and management experience," he says.
"We need local partners to work
together to build government relationships to get land permits, feed contracts
and power purchase agreements."
Over 200 forms of biomass have been
processed and more than 90 installations has been built worldwide by Caletta,
according to a speech James J. Bulger, the Chairman of Thornton at a energy
saving forum.
Currently they have four projects in the
US
that use materials ranging from tires, wood and refuse to generate electricity.
Caletta acquires financing from mainly from
three sources, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and The Hartford.
According to Caletta, renewable biomass energy
power plants, which convert such material as municipal solid waste, wood and
other organic resources into electricity, is the most widely used renewable
energy source and the fourth-largest global energy source after the fossil
fuels coal, oil and natural gas.
Such plants are credited with the reducing
material in landfills and lowering greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in
saving landfill space and slowing global warming and climate change. Caletta
says those are the main reasons it focuses in particular on the development of
biomass-generated power for electricity and heat.
Thornton
covers wider fields. It is involved in
industries that include infrastructure, transportation, energy and real estate
in the
US
.
Lin says they have a proprietary network of affiliates that includes senior US
government officials, Fortune 500 CEO's, contacts in global banking, private
equity and Chinese government organizations.
"Caletta only does business in the
biomass in renewable energy field, but we do more. With our network, we can
assist in financing and advising in other renewable energies, such as wind and
solar. " he adds.
October 2 (China
Daily) -- PetroChina, the
country's largest oil and gas producer, will invest 10 billion yuan (US$1.3
billion) in building facilities for new energy production by 2010, a senior
company official said.
Hu Wenrui, vice president of PetroChina,
told a recent forum that the investment is expected to reap three million tons
of oil equivalent in new energy resources production capacity.
"This will help guarantee the energy
safety of the fastest growing economy and the world's largest energy consumer
only second to the
United
States
," he said.
The oil giant's business on new energy sources
covers non-conventional energy including coal-bed methane, oil shale, oil sands
and renewable energy such as wind and solar power, bio- and geothermal energy.
PetroChina's output of coal-bed oil, fuel
ethanol and biodiesel and that of shale oil and sand oil are expected to
account for 40 and 20 percent respectively of the nation's total by 2010, Hu
said.
He
added the company will also take advantage of its resources, technology and
funds to closely follow the latest developments in hydrogen energy and natural
gas hydrate.
October 12 (China Daily) -- A biofuel expert yesterday
rejected an international report claiming that
China
's plan to produce more
biofuels could lead to food and water shortages in the country.
"The
report misunderstands
China
's
policy and situation in the area of biofuel production from corn," Li
Shizhong, deputy director of the
Institute
of
New Energy Technological Research
at
Tsinghua
University
, said. "
China
has long emphasized the use of non-staple food in making biofuel."
Only
about 2 percent of the country's corn output, or about 3 to 4 million tons a
year, is used to make ethanol. Much of the rest is used for animal feed.
In
their effort to develop biofuel without harming the general food supply, the
authorities have said they would shift from corn to sorghum, cassava and sweet
potato for fuel production in the next five years.
Cassava
and sweet potato are both high-yield plants, and, though edible, they are not
used as a staple food. Their use as a raw material would not create any
artificial shortages of food products.
The
recently released Agricultural Biofuel Industry Plan rules out the expansion of
grain-based ethanol production, specifically the corn- and potato-based
versions.
Li's
comments came in response to a report released yesterday by the International
Water Management Institute (IWMI), which is based in
Sri Lanka
.
The
report said plans by
China
and
India
to increase production of biofuel from irrigated maize and sugarcane would
aggravate water shortages and undermine food output.
The
report said
China
's
goal of reaching 15 million tons biofuels by 2020, or 9 percent of the nation's
gasoline demand, would mean increasing maize output by 26 percent.
"Biofuel
production has serious implications for water, especially if corn and sugarcane
are used," Charlotte de Fraiture, an IWMI expert, said during a telephone
interview.
In
response to Li's comments, Fraiture praised
China
's decision to shift the focus
of its biofuel production policies to non-staple foods.
"I
think
China
's
efforts to ensure food security by shifting to non-staple foods and policy to
cap further corn ethanol plants are very good," she said.
She said the two countries could focus on
crops that need less water, such as sweet sorghum for ethanol and jatropha bush
and pongamia trees for biodiesel. "There are many factors playing a role
in designing a biofuel policy, of which, water is one aspect."
October 25 (China
Daily) -- Soaring global oil
prices have hit supplies of oil products, especially diesel, in some parts of
China
.
"Wholesale prices of major oil
products, especially diesel, and low-end gasoline products have risen to some
extent. But the real headache is that even with rising prices, there is still
not enough supply," said Yao Daming, an official with the Guangdong Oil
and Gas Association.
Statistics from oilboss.cn, an oil retail
information portal, show wholesale prices of oil products have risen by less
than 100 yuan per ton for low-end gasoline and above 100 yuan for diesel. This
price surge and tight supply has hit several areas, oilboss.cn data show.
"In
Guangdong
,
with low inventory and expectations that the authorities may raise retail
prices, the supply is really tight,"
Yao
said, predicting the shortage will continue till the end of this year and early
next year as demand for diesel picks up further and supply drops.
Retail prices of major oil products are
tightly controlled by top economic planner the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) as they are seen as major components of inflation.
Niu Li, an economist with the State
Information Center, affiliated to the NDRC, contended that given the current
consumer price index (CPI), there is a possibility the authorities will raise
local oil prices in line with the global crude levels.
The CPI eased slightly to 6.2 percent in
September after surging to an 11-year monthly high of 6.5 percent in August.
New York
's main futures contracts, light sweet crude
for delivery in November, hit a record US$
90.07 a
barrel last Friday.
October 24 (Xinhua) -- Under heavy
pressure to harness rampant energy consumption,
China
's top legislature on
Wednesday began deliberating a draft amendment to the law that suggests work
carried out by local government officials in energy conservation should be
integrated into the assessment of their political performance.
The
draft amendment to the Law on Conserving Energy, tabled to lawmakers for the
second reading on Wednesday, bears several revisions and changes in wording
from the first reading in June this year.
"The
way in which energy saving goals are accomplished will be made a part of the
performance rating of local governments and their leaders," says the draft
amendment.
Local
energy saving standards in the construction industry must be stricter than
those set by the central government and industrial associations as energy
saving on buildings is closely related to the local geographic situation,
according to the draft.
Relevant
local standards "must be sent to the relevant cabinet departments for the
records," the draft added.
"Revising
the current energy saving law is necessary and the draft amendment is basically
practicable," said the legal committee under the National People's
Congress in a written explanation.
Under
a five-year plan to 2010,
China
pledged to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by
20 percent, or four percent each year. But, the consumption actually fell by just
1.23 percent last year.
The
draft, which almost doubles the articles of the original, details measures to
avoid energy waste, improve energy efficiency and cut pollution emissions.
It
says Chinese cities will gradually replace antiquated central heating with
modern household heating systems that can be individually regulated.
Official
statistics show that construction accounted for 27.5 percent of
China
's
total energy consumption in 2005, transportation 16.3 percent and government
buildings 6.7 percent.
China
has built 1.06 billion square meters of
energy efficient buildings, but the figure represents only seven percent of the
total floor space of existing buildings in urban
China
, statistics from the Ministry
of Construction show.
Other
energy-saving measures include strict control of the indoor temperature of
public buildings and restrictions on decorative lighting for large buildings.
The
State Council, the cabinet, in early June issued a circular, ordering the
temperature of all air-conditioned public rooms in government buildings to be
kept at no lower than 26 degrees Celsius.
The
draft also says that the Chinese government encourages the development,
production, selling and use of environmentally-friendly vehicles and new types
of automobiles propelled by new clean fuel, in an effort to save energy and cut
emissions.
The
draft amendment is likely to be put to the vote at the five-day session.
October 24 (China Daily) -- To quadruple its per capita value of the 2000 GDP by 2020,
China
must develop a sustainable energy system as soon as possible.
The report by the
Chinese
Academy
of Sciences (CAS) that has set out a strategic plan for the development of
China
's
energy industry until 2050 is not only farsighted but also urgently needed.
The new report
argued that, to ensure the stable transition from the current fossil fuel-based
energy system to a sustainable energy system, there should be no more than 50
percent increase in the total consumption of fossil fuels by 2050 as compared
to that in 2005.
For a developing
country like
China
that is undergoing fast industrialization and urbanization, the shift toward a
sustainable energy future will be very difficult.
As the world's
fourth largest economy,
China
has risen to be the single largest contributor to world growth now. But as a
developing economy, the country's energy efficiency remains much lower than
that of developed countries. As a result, the country's robust economic growth
is often associated with an ever growing energy need and increasingly serious
environmental consequences.
The Chinese
authorities are keen to address the country's energy needs in a sustainable
manner. The government's vow to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20
percent between 2006 and 2010 is just a part of the country's sustainable
energy efforts.
Yet, the fact
that
China
relies on coal for about 70 percent of its energy consumption indicates that
the country still has quite a long way to go before it can develop a
sustainable energy system.
The CAS report
has come up with some important suggestions that are essential to
China
's
energy sustainability.
For instance, it
urged that the energy pricing system with due consideration of environmental
cost and resource scarcity should be established, and measures such as
favorable taxation and governmental subsidies be taken to encourage the
development of clean energy sources.
Obviously, only
with effective demand- and supply-side solutions can
China
accelerate its transit to a
sustainable energy future.
Policymakers
should make greater efforts to bring into place such measures to ensure its
energy system can generally meet the domestic demands of economic development
in coming decades
October 23 (China Daily) -- Construction
is expected to start by the end of the year on a massive below-ground garbage
incinerator plant that will also generate electricity for
Guangzhou
,
the capital of South China's
Guangdong
Province
.
At a cost of 970
million yuan (US$125 million), the Likeng Garbage Incineration Power Plant will
be able to incinerate more than 2,000 tons of domestic waste per day, almost
one fifth of the city's total.
It will be also capable
of generating 200 million kWh of electricity a year. The plant will be put into
production by June 2009.
The project will adopt
Danish clean garbage power transforming technology to reduce waste gas
emissions.
Researchers have found
that garbage shrinks 90 percent in volume and 80 percent in weight after being
incinerated. Once incinerated, 2 tons of garbage can produce the same amount of
energy as 1 ton of coal.
In addition, the
residue can be used as environmentally friendly construction material. Garbage
power, therefore, like solar and wind power, is an environmentally friendly
means of power generation, experts said.
The location of the
plant is in Baiyun District of Guangzhou,
23 km
away from the main downtown area.
The first phase project
com-menced operations in October 2005, and has incinerated 1,040 tons of
domestic waste a day and generated 130 million kWh of electricity a year,
enough for 100,000 families.
The city government
funded the first phase, and private enterprise is footing the bill for the
second phase.
According to the city's
environment and sanitation bureau,
Guangzhou
produces 11,000 tons of domestic waste per day. That figure is expected to
increase to 13,000 by 2010. Most of the garbage is buried in three landfills on
the outskirts of
Guangzhou
,
a potential environmental stain on the city.
It is expected all
three landfills will be full by 2010, highlighting the vital importance of this
new incinerator facility.
There are more than 50
garbage-burning electricity plants across the nation, about 60 percent of which
are in the Yangtze River Delta.
October 26 (China
Daily) -- Faced with consistent fuel price rises and
the much-anticipated fuel tax, many Chinese have refrained from buying private
vehicles.
According to a recent survey conducted by
www.chinadaily.com.cn, 732, or 50.69 percent, of the 1,444 respondents said
they will not purchase a car now, 231 gave no comment, while 481, or 33.31
percent, indicated they want to buy a private car.
Fuel prices have risen persistently both internationally
and domestically, and the government is looking for an appropriate time to
impose a tax on gasoline, diesel and kerosene to encourage energy conservation
and reduce emissions.
Respondents, who chose not to buy cars,
listed various reasons for their decision, which involved environmental
protection, energy consumption, traffic jams, parking problems, improvements in
public transportation, as well as low income.
"Not money, but environment," one
respondent said, a view shared by many others.
China
has about 50 million vehicles on its roads.
Fuel consumption of vehicles accounts for a third of the total, and is
estimated to rise to 57 percent by 2020. Vehicle emissions have replaced coal
to become the main source of air pollution in some big cities.
A respondent called on people to use buses,
the metro, bicycles or even walk. "I like walking, it would be better not
only for the environment but for health too."
Key cities such as
Beijing
,
Shanghai
and
Guangzhou
have taken active measures to
develop public transport. Metro fares in
Beijing
were cut by more than 30 percent this month while bus fares were slashed by
more than 60 percent in January. A one-way metro ticket now costs only 2 yuan,
about the price of a can of Coke, irrespective of the length of the journey.
Many respondents believe some buy cars just
to show off. "I hate the idea of a car as a status symbol," said one
participant. "Fuel prices, traffic jams and parking problems have to be
taken into consideration when one plans to buy a car. In most cases, these
disadvantages outweigh the advantages of owning a car."
But vehicle sales have risen fast in
China
.
In the first eight months of this year, sales rose by a quarter, boosted by the
rapid growth of the economy as well as new offerings and price incentives. It's
estimated that full-year sales will exceed 9 million units, up from 7.22
million last year.
As the world's second largest consumer and
the third biggest producer of cars,
China
is now reportedly the No 1
potential market.
Respondents who insisted on owning cars said
they want cars for convenience and for practical reasons.
A respondent pointed out that his/her
priority is convenience. "So it makes no difference if the oil price goes
up a little."
Some participants' new houses are far from
downtown
Beijing
,
where they work, as houses are more affordable in these areas. So they want
private vehicles for the daily commute. "Apartments in the city center are
too expensive, which forced me to pick a suburban area," complained a
respondent.
"It's more convenient to have your own
car for short trips out of the city with family," said another.
Along with increases in disposable income
and improvement in living standards, travel has become one of the major
relaxation activities for Chinese, with the trend of self-driven tours to
neighboring rural areas over weekends and holidays growing.
But some respondents confided they wanted
their own car to fulfill their "dream".
"I have been dreaming of a car for many
years. If I can afford it, why not?" said one.
October 30 (China Daily) -- US
carmaker General Motors said yesterday it will open a research lab in Shanghai
and work with its Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp to develop cars powered by
alternative fuels for the world's No 2 vehicle market.
The GM Center for Advanced Science &
Research, to be part of a new $250million GM campus in Shanghai, will look into
developing alternative-fuel cars, including plug-in hybrids, bio-fuel and
fuel-cell vehicles, Rick Wagoner, the group's chief executive officer, said at
a press conference in Beijing.
The first phase of construction will be
completed late next year, according to Wagoner. The center is expected to
employ 1,500 engineers and scientists when fully staffed.
This plan will "accelerate research in
the areas of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly automotive
technologies, as well as alternative fuel pathways that are socially
responsible, economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and
technologically feasible", he said.
"We see
China
as being among the first
markets and production sites for alternative propulsion systems - including the
new flexible fuel, plug-in type of electric vehicles currently under
development by GM."
SAIC President Chen Hong said the firm's
production of electric-fuel hybrid vehicles under its own and GM brands and
will reach 10,000 units by 2010.
The plan comes as fuel prices in
China
are expected to increase sharply following hikes in world crude prices and a
widely anticipated fuel tax next year.
Many Chinese brands, including Chery, Geely
and Chang'an, are also developing alternative-fuel vehicles.
Separately, GM and SAIC will jointly offer a
$5 million grant in the next five years to research clean energy with Tsinghua
University, China's premier research institution based in Beijing, Wagoner
said.
GM, one of the top two market leaders along
with
Germany
's Volkswagen,
said its
China
sales grew by 17.2 percent to 753,686 units in the first three quarters of this
year.
Meanwhile, sales of all China-made vehicles
surged by almost a quarter to 6.46 million units, according to industry data.
Wagoner said
China
will overtake the
United
States
as the world's biggest vehicle market
in the next decade.
October 27 (China
Daily) -- The auto industry must switch its attention
from oil to alternative fuels if it is to help combat the global energy crisis
and slow environmental deterioration, Chinese experts have said.
The development of energy-saving technologies
has to be the priority for China's auto industry, which is expected to become
the world's largest in 10 to 15 years, Zhen Zijian, deputy director of the New
Energy Vehicle Key Project of the National Hi-Tech R&D Program, said.
"
China
's auto industry has attached
great importance to the development of 'clean' vehicles using our own core
technologies to give us a competitive edge," Zhen said.
The government has earmarked 1.1 billion
yuan ($147 million) for its clean vehicle project during the 11th Five-Year
Plan (2006-10), up 220 million yuan on the previous five-year period.
The State Development and Planning
Commission has also launched the New Energy Vehicle Production Access
Regulation, effective from Thursday, to ensure the healthy development of the
clean vehicle industry.
"We need to promote the development of
clean vehicles with support from the government, private enterprises and
research institutes," Zhen said.
Participants at the Clean Vehicle Innovation
Forum, held on Friday in
Beijing
and sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, agreed.
Professor Ouyang Minggao of the automotive
engineering department of
Tsinghua
University
, said:
"New energy is the driving force for the sustainable growth of the auto
industry and we need to form an innovation union of private companies, research
bodies and universities."
China
's clean auto research is currently being
driven along three paths - hybrid, clean fuel and electric vehicles, Ouyang
said.
The Zhejiang-based Geely Automobile, for
example, which produces small cars, last year spent 30 million yuan on the
development of a hybrid vehicle that combines a standard internal combustion
engine with electric power.
Chery Automobile, one of the country's
largest carmakers, began clean vehicle research in 2003.
Its hybrid vehicle, which the company claims
uses up to 30 percent less gasoline than a standard car, will be launched early
next year.
October 15 (China
Daily) -- In the competition to design cars that use
clean energy, it is currently not domestic automakers that have developed the
top innovative design, but an institute of higher learning that is leading the
way -
Tongji
University
.
Super 3, a hydrogen fuel cell sedan
developed by Tongji, has proven that
China
's clean vehicle technology
can compete globally with the best.
During last year's Challenge Bibendum
organized by Michelin Group, the Super 3 fitted with a VW Santana 3000 car body
won top marks in seven technical tests for fuel efficiency, exhaust and carbon
dioxide emissions, and noise reduction in what is considered the largest and
most credible event in the world promoting development of clean energy, road
safety and fuel economy.
"We can say that
China
is advancing alongside the
world's auto giants in the fuel cell vehicle industry. There's absolutely no
difference," Wan Gang, former president of
Tongji
University
and the current minister of
science and technology, said during the event in
Paris
.
In fuel efficiency tests, the Super 3 took
the lead, helping it rank third among all new energy vehicles including those
made by auto conglomerates Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. The Super 3 consumes 1
liter of hydrogen per
100 km
,
equivalent to 3.13 liters of petroleum per
100
km
.
It also took first place in noise reduction
tests, putting its overall score on an equal footing with Mercedes-Benz, and
surpassing General Motors, Ford and Nissan.
Today "the fuel cell vehicle is
considered the inevitable trend in auto development for its use of hydrogen as
fuel, high efficiency and zero emissions", says Yu Zhuoping, director of
the Automotive Engineering College at Tongji University.
Nearly all automakers are engaged in the
development of fuel cell and other clean energy technologies to decrease
dependence on oil, reduce the pollution and ensure a sustainable development of
both the automobile industry and society as a whole.
The Automotive Engineering College of Tongji
University has undertaken research and development on fuel cell vehicles since
2000. Led by Wan, Tongji has led a series of national and
Shanghai
projects on new energy vehicles.
The university succeeded in developing the
powertrain for fuel cell cars with home-made intellectual property.
Advancing the concepts of previous projects,
Tongji recently developed a new generation powertrain and shared the design for
the fuel cell cars Lingyu from Shanghai Volkswagen and the
Shanghai
model of SAIC Motors.
In addition to applying the powertrain
system with dual power sources to autos, Tongji is co-developing a fuel cell
city bus with SAIC.
"Next year, there will be 20 fuel cell
equipped cars with the Passat car body serving the Beijing Olympic Games. And
for 2010 Shanghai World Expo, we will cooperate with SAIC group to provide
around 100 fuel cell VIP sedans, buses and sightseeing vehicles," says Yu.
He says that efforts are still underway to
cut the cost of fuel cell technology, "a difficult bottleneck for all
automakers worldwide".
"If the Super 3 can be put into
commercial production, we want to lower the overall cost of a fuel cell vehicle
to 350,000 yuan," Yu says, projecting that the date for that would be
2012.
He adds commercially produced fuel cell
technology will make SAIC Motor's independent Roewe brand a top choice among
drivers.
Late last year,
Shanghai
's
first hydrogen station opened in
Shanghai
International
Automobile
City
, which can supply
three buses and 20 sedans a day with hydrogen extracted from the exhaust from
industrial enterprises in the city.
October 13 (China
Daily) -- A fine of 20,000 yuan (US$2,660) imposed on
a man who gave a lift to hitchhikers touched off a debate on the phenomenon of
car pools in urban areas.
The man in
Hangzhou
,
capital city of East China's
Zhejiang
Province
, gave a lift to
several hitchhikers and asked them for 6 yuan for the oil his car would consume
on the way to their destination. But he was stopped by police and fined 20,000
yuan for engaging in illegal passenger transport.
The Chinese equivalent of a car pool is a
pinche, which is becoming more popular among urban car owners because it's the
easiest way to save on the expenses of keeping a car as gas prices rise.
Surfing the Internet, websites can be easily
found providing information for car pool opportunities and partners. If four people
have the same route to work, expenses can be saved by sharing driving duties.
Not only do car pools save costs, they also help the environment and help
alleviate traffic congestion. The more people who car pool, the less carbon
dioxide is emitted and less pressure is put on traffic congestion.
There are separate car pool lanes on many expressways in the
United States
, encouraging cars to
carry as many people as the vehicle's capacity allows. The traffic laws there
encourage car pooling, which is considered a way to save energy and reduce
emissions.
China
has no such policy and neither do we have
separate car pool lanes on highways or expressways. But the number of people
choosing to enter car pools is on the rise. This is a sign that consumers are
being forced to be more pragmatic in the use of motor vehicles as the
skyrocketing price of gasoline takes a toll on their wallets.
However, the policy is lagging behind.
Traffic police in some locations even consider car pooling illegal and have
published rules to prohibit it, reasoning that it infringes upon the taxi
business. And those who share expenses for using a single car are penalized for
engaging in an illegal passenger transport business.
There are indeed some drivers who make a
living engaging in the business of unlicensed passenger transport. Traffic
police call them hei che (black vehicles); hei literally refers to their
unlicensed status. A crackdown on such vehicles is undoubtedly necessary
because they do not pay business taxes and are trying to take away part of an
already meager market share from taxi drivers.
But car pooling is totally different in
nature from these illegal practices. The latter operates for profit and does
infringe upon the taxi market, while the former is simply trying to spend less.
For the latter, their cars are money-making machines while the cars for the
former are just for transport.
It would be a shame if traffic police failed
to tell the difference. The fact that they could hardly tell whether the driver
is operating an illegal passenger transport business or not right on the spot
might be the best excuse for police to impose a fine on innocent drivers.
But further inquiries could easily reveal
whether the driver is operating illegally: those who are engaged in such businesses
do not usually have fixed jobs since they have to drive their cars around and
wait for customers. It is almost impossible for those with a fixed job to get
involved in these unlicensed businesses -nobody would be silly enough to
sacrifice their job for this risky venture with an unfixed income.
The other argument police have to charge
those who share the use of their cars is the fact that car owners charge those
who ride in their vehicles. This is ridiculous - one of the motivations for car
pooling is to reduce the cost of keeping private cars. If sharing the costs of
private cars by car pooling is deemed illegal, it would equate to an outright
ban on car pools.
The only other explanation is that the
police are imposing fines to make a profit.
As more and more car owners organize their
own car pool teams or organizations, whether or not environmental concerns are
taken into consideration in the making of public policy has become an issue.
A recent survey found that more than 90
percent of Beijingers support car pools. The belief that it is a practice good
for car owners that helps relieve traffic jams. It is estimated that if just 1
percent of car owners give up driving their cars for public transport
nationwide, 80 million gallons of gasoline will be saved.
From this point view, car pools should be encouraged rather than discouraged or
banned. Specific measures such as having separate car pool lanes on highways
need to be taken to encourage car pooling.
The large scale
widening of urban roads to encourage motor vehicles while narrowing bicycle and
pedestrian lanes in the past two decades has proven to be a big mistake as the
guiding principle behind it does not conform to the people-oriented principle
advocated by the central government.
The wider urban roads are, the more private cars drive them. Rather than
alleviating traffic congestion, widened roads have actually aggravated traffic
congestion while the increase of private cars has affected the smooth flow of
public buses.
We need to avoid making the same mistake on the car pool question. Let the
frugal and environmentally friendly practices play their role in reducing the
number of private cars on the road while reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Price wars break out in domestic car market
October 10 (China Daily) -- A
new bout of price battles in China's car market, the second-biggest in the
world, has broken out following South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Co's
aggressive price cuts on its locally-made models last month.
Hyundai's joint venture with Beijing
Automotive Industry Corp slashed prices of the subcompact Accent, the compact
Elantra and mid-sized Sonata by 5,000 to 16,000 yuan to buck a downward trend
in its sales this year.
Under attack from competition,
January-to-August sales at the venture, which also makes the
Tucson
sports utility vehicle (SUV), plunged 20 percent from a year ago to 146,001
units, ranking eighth in the passenger car sector in
China
, according to industry data.
Hyundai's move has ignited a new round of
price wars, which will be "awfully acute" this month, the seasonal
peak car sales period in
China
,
analysts said.
Hua Xue, chief executive officer of
cheshi.com.cn, a Beijing-based portal tracking nationwide car prices, said:
"Other carmakers will have to follow suit to lure increasingly
sophisticated Chinese buyers."
As a result, domestic car prices will tumble
by as much as 6.5 percent in December from January, a quicker pace than 5.6
percent last year, he said.
Prices in August dropped by 3.6 percent from
January due to earlier price contests, he said.
According to market intelligence, Shanghai
GM, a tie-up between General Motors Corp and SAIC Motor Co, will possibly
launch a major price cut for the compact Buick Excelle - its best seller - to
fight against the Hyundai venture.
Analysts said Shanghai GM, the third-biggest
passenger car producer in
China
,
will have to cut prices to achieve its lofty 2007 sales target as its growth
this year has slowed sharply.
Sales in the first eight months hit 294,600
units, up 13.7 percent. The growth rate was 23 percent last year.
Shanghai GM said in the first half that it
aimed to sell 480,000 vehicles this year, up from 400,000 units in 2006.
The Hyundai venture last month lowered its
2007 sales target from 310,000 units to 250,000 units.
A phalanx of other carmakers - such as PSA
Peugeot Citroen's tie-up with Dongfeng Motor Corp, and Honda Motor Co's venture
with Guangzhou Automobile Corp - are also suffering slower growth and
difficulty attaining sales targets this year.
Although these carmakers have not announced
official price cuts, their dealerships have already offered hefty incentives on
plenty of models, such as the Buick LaCrosse, Honda Accord and Citroen
C-Triomphe.
Yale Zhang, director of Greater China
Vehicle Forecasts for
US
industry consultancy CSM Worldwide (
Shanghai
)
Ltd, said price cuts are a "very swift way" to boost car sales in
China
where
most car customers remain first-time buyers without strong brand loyalty.
"They will choose your products if you
provide cheaper cars than your rivals. They have already got used to price
cuts," Zhang said, adding that compact and mid-sized cars are the two most
competitive segments this year.
There are plenty of all-new and facelift
models on the block during the remainder of this year, which, he said, will
force old comparable models to reduce prices to defend their market share.
For example, Ford Motor Co's joint venture
with Chang'an Motor Corp last month unveiled a 2.3-liter new Mondeo sedan that
will go on sale before the end of this year, retailing between 210,000 and
250,000 yuan.
Zhang estimates that passenger car sales in
China
,
including sedans, SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles, will reach 5.2 million
units, up from 4.1 million units in 2006. From January to August, sales surged
by 27.2 percent to 3.37 million units, according to industry data.
However, Zhang Xin of
Guotai & Jun'an Securities Co, said severe price contests will put
cost-cutting pressures on carmakers that are also confronted with rising costs
of materials, such as steel.
October 23 (China
Daily) -- China National
Heavy-Duty Truck Group Co Ltd (CNHTC) has achieved dramatic growth in recent
years.
Statistics show
that the company's output of heavy-duty trucks reached over 60,000 units in
2006, 15.5 times that of 2001.
The firm
demonstrated strong performance in the first half of this year, notching up
sales of more than 52,000 units. The figure is projected to exceed 100,000
units for the year as a whole.
As the cradle of
China
's
heavy-duty truck industry, CNHTC had its proudest moment when the first
China-made truck with an eight-ton payload rolled off its production line in
1960.
Evolving from
Jinan Automobile Works based in East China's
Shandong
Province
, the State-owned group
company was among the elite of
China
's
heavy-duty sector in the 1980s, with a total staff of more than 100,000 and
hundreds of branches covering 14 provinces and cities across the country.
Yet, the gigantic
industrial player seemed to become clumsy when faced with a volatile market and
was unable to respond immediately to market demand, so that it was soon mired
in financial difficulties.
This prompted the
embattled company to initiate a three-year turnaround plan in 2001, when it was
burdened with a heavy debt of 12.97 billion yuan (US$1.73 billion).
The turnaround
plan, focusing on innovation in corporate structure, management, technology and
culture, spun off some facilities and laid off a part of the labor force,
affecting about 50,000 workers.
Through a series
of comprehensive reforms and restructuring, CNHTC managed to pull itself out of
its difficulties, retrieving its leading position in market share in the
nation's heavy-duty truck industry in 2005.
"Every
member of CNHTC has cherished a desire to contribute to the rise of
China
's auto
industry," said Ma Jichun, chairman of the board of directors.
Technological
edge
Looking back at
the bumpy ride, executives of the company realized that weakness in research
and development (R&D) capacity was one of the key factors that hindered the
company's growth.
Technical staff
were far less confident in technological innovation six years ago, preferring
to depend on imported technologies instead. As a result, they hesitated to
change even a single part of an imported auto model, recalled Zhu Ziquan,
assistant to general manager of the company.
Thus, finding a
way to sharpen its technological edge has long been a major concern of the
company.
In recent years,
CNHTC has invested more than 5 billion yuan in technological innovation,
reaping a rich harvest as a result.
Its technical
team has made the leap from mere absorption of imported technologies to
independent innovation and creation.
CNHTC's product
lineup has extended from 78 to 2,700 auto models, and the company has developed
a portfolio of proprietary auto models such as Howo, Steyr King and Huanghe
Prince.
The Howo series
in particular, with more than 100 proprietary technologies, has attracted
attention at home and abroad for its leading-edge technology.
It witnessed
impressive sales of 10,000 units in its debut year of 2005, a feat that
surprised industry insiders.
CNHTC has
consolidated its position as the country's leading heavy-duty truck maker with
the development of the premium Howo series and is taking the lead in promoting
technological progress in the industry.
The firm has
topped Chinese automakers in terms of patent number with more than 760 patents.
During a public
appraisal last year, jointly organized by China Enterprise Reform
&Development Society and the national committee for accreditation of
independent innovation, two arms of the State-owned Assets Supervision and
Administration of the State Council, CNHTC was named one of the 10 best Chinese
enterprises in terms of outstanding R&D capacity.
Backed by strong
R&D, the company did not panic when two regular engine suppliers cut off
supplies, but rather took the opportunity to extend its industrial chain to a
new field: the heart of the automobile - its engine.
Within just eight
months, CNHTC launched its own proprietary improved engine. "Thanks to our
strong technological support and prompt response capability, we have been able
to achieve a breakthrough in such a short period," said Wang Wenyu,
vice-manager of the company.
In addition to an
engine production base in
Hangzhou
, the company
invested nearly 1 billion yuan in another engine production facility in
Jinan
, capital of
Shandong
Province
,
in 2006.
At present, the two production bases help
CNHTC achieve an annual output of 200,000 auto engines.
Brand building
"Brand
strategy is a lesson we learned in the market," said Wei Zhihai, another
vice-manager of the company.
To illustrate the
point, he pointed out that CNHTC's heavy-duty truck sales were registered at
45,000 units in 2005, just 6,000 units less than the world's seventh automaker
- MAN Group. Yet the difference in sales revenue between the companies was US$3
billion.
"It's brand
value that resulted in the huge difference," he said.
The market
preference for branded products prompted CNHTC's decision to build its own
brand - SinoTruk.
Over years of
continuing efforts, SinoTruk, now worth 3.19 billion yuan, has been listed as
one of
China
's
500 most valuable brands for three consecutive years, according to the latest release
by the World Brand Lab, a China-based brand research institute.
Starting to
venture into the international market in 2003, CNHTC exported more than 6,000
trucks to at least 50 countries and regions last year, an almost 150 percent
jump over exports in 2003, gaining more than US$200 million in foreign trade
revenue.
This year,
exports are projected to exceed 15,000 units worth US$300 million.
CNHTC values its corporate responsibility. It set up a 10-million-yuan charity
fund in May to help those in need and has sponsored a number of sports meets
and energy-efficient projects in recent years.
October 30 (China
Daily) -- Natural gas output is set to almost triple by 2020
as the country's top producer steps up exploration and exploitation, a top
expert told an energy forum in Beijing yesterday.
"Gas production will increase fast with the
estimated 2020 production hitting 150 billion cubic meters (bcm)," Qiu
Zhongjian, an academician at the
Chinese
Academy
of Engineering,
told the forum hosted by the China National Committee of World Petroleum
Council.
Of the 58.6 bcm of natural gas extracted last year,
PetroChina contributed 70 to 80 percent, said Jia Chengzao, vice-president of
PetroChina and academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
This year, PetroChina plans to prove 100 bcm of
natural gas at
Songliao
Basin
, where Daqing and
Jilin
oilfields are located.
PetroChina is confident of the appraisal results of
its Sichuan Longgang Gasfield - whose reserves are believed to be the highest
in the country - but Jia would not put a figure to it.
Also in
Sichuan
Province
, the Guang'an
region is believed to hold 1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Jia revealed
yesterday.
"The potential is huge in Guang'an, with
reserves in place reaching 145 bcm in 2006," he said.
In the
Junger
Basin
, PetroChina has
made its largest gas discovery in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with
reserves in place of 170 bcm. The newly confirmed long-term resource volume of
Junger is up to 500 bcm, Jia said.
For oil, Jia estimated reserves in place at Nanpu
Oilfield in the eastern part of
Hebei
Province
to be 2 billion
tons oil equivalent in about five years.
The company's latest discovery in the
Bohai
Bay
has combined proven, probable and possible reserves of as much as 1.18 billion
tons of oil equivalent, the Ministry of Land and Resources certified last week.
PetroChina expects its oil output to stabilize at
107 million tons for this year, around the same as last year as new fields make
up for depletion in older fields.
The country boasts extractable oil and gas reserves of 21.2 billion tons
and 22 trillion cubic meters, Qiu said.
China
completes tunnel for new west-east gas
pipeline
October 29 (Xinhua)
-- YICHANG - Workers on Monday completed a
tunnel under
China
's Yangtze
River for a major gas pipeline that will run from the southwest
province
of
Sichuan
to
Shanghai
.
With a diameter of 3.08 meters and a length
of 1,405 meters, the tunnel lay about 20 meters beneath the riverbed,
connecting two wells on each bank in Yichang City, Hubei Province, said Liu
Juzheng, head of the Hubei section of the Sichuan-Shanghai pipeline.
The 2,203-km pipeline, with the mainline
extending
1,700 km
, is
another "energy artery" to fuel the booming but energy-insufficient
east following the West-East gas project.
The pipeline is expected to channel 12.1
billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from
Sichuan
's
Puguang field to central and eastern regions, including
Chongqing
Municipality
, the provinces of
Hubei
,
Anhui
,
Jiangxi
,
Jiangsu
and
Zhejiang
, and
Shanghai
.
The tunnel, which took 325 days to finish,
is the first of five to cross under the Yangtze, which originates in
Qinghai
Province
and empties into the East China Sea near
Shanghai
.
Industry experts say this new gas pipeline,
with an investment of 62.7 billion yuan (US$8.25 billion), offers an
opportunity to the country's underdeveloped west to tap its advantage in
resources for development.
The pipeline is scheduled to be finished by
late 2010 and the gas is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by
tens of millions of tons annually, said Chen Deming, Vice Minister of the
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Proven reserves of the Puguang gas field
stood at 356.1 billion cubic meters, according to China Petrochemical
Corporation (Sinopec).
China
's proven reserves of natural gas total 2.66
trillion cubic meters. The government has been promoting the use of natural gas
to improve energy efficiency and cut air pollution.
Under an NDRC proposal on natural gas
development,
China
aims to increase its natural gas pipeline network to 44,000 kilometers by 2010
to meet demand.
Although
China
's natural gas output will
reach 94 billion cubic meters in 2010 from 58.6 billion in 2006, the country
would still need imports to fill a gap of 16 billion cubic meters a year.
In
Shanghai
,
demand for natural gas has soared from four million cubic meters in 2003 to 1.9
billion in 2005.
In 2004, China National Petroleum Corp
(CNPC) opened its West-East gas pipeline, which runs more than 4,000
kilometers and channels 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas to
Shanghai
from the
Tarim
Basin
in the country's westmost region
of Xinjiang annually.
CNPC
is to build a second West-East pipeline to carry gas imported from Central Asia
to the Pearl River and
Yangtze River
deltas.
Construction will begin in 2008 and gas supply in 2010. The designed annual
production volume will be 30 billion cubic meters.
Old
oil
October 29 (China Daily) -- Geologic formations known
as marine facies contain not only the fossils of mollusks and fish locked deep
within, but often oil and gas as well, potentially in enormous amounts.
Formed in primeval
oceans, ancient marine basins could yield major oil and gas reserves for
Asia
's top refiner Sinopec and the entire nation, say
senior geologists who are preparing research and exploration efforts to find
out more.
China
's second-largest oil and gas
producer China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, will fund
extensive research and development to lay a solid technical foundation for
exploration of the formations, say sources from a think tank affiliated with
Sinopec.
"Marine facies
contribute to the bulk of global oil and gas discoveries, but that is not the
case in China due to historical reasons," Kang Yuzhu, a senior researcher
with the Sinopec Exploration and Production Research Institute, tells China
Business Weekly exclusively.
"That is why we
have to make more effort in fundamental research."
Resources held in
marine facies structures in
China
could total some 37 billion tons of oil equivalent, about one-third of the
nation's total, according to Sinopec research.
Yet exploration of
the formations has been modest, with less than 10 percent of resources thought
to be held in marine facies discovered to date, Kang says.
Former marine basins
in
China
have been proven to have the correct conditions for oil or natural gas
reserves. But that was not thought to be the case several decades ago, shortly
after the People's Republic of
China
was founded.
The nation's veteran
geologists before said that
China
's
marine basins were poor in oil and gas reserves. The discovery of the Daqing
Oilfield in 1950s seemed to firmly back their analysis. Daqing, the nation's
largest oilfield with reserves of more than 40 million tons, was not formed by
an ocean millions of years ago.
It wasn't until
Sinopec discovered the Tahe Oilfield in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region that
domestic oil companies began to realize the importance of marine formations.
It is estimated that
half of Sinopec's reserves are located in marine facies, says Jin Zhijun,
deputy chief geologist with Sinopec, agreeing with Kang.
"That is why we
are leading nationwide research into marine facies oil and gas exploration. We
undertake a long-term research program in close collaboration with academic
organizations across the country, such as the China Academy of Science and
leading universities as well," Jin says.
The research may
require five to 10 years, he notes.
Sinopec will establish
a number of laboratories to study marine reserve potential, Jin adds.
About 10 laboratories
will be built requiring an investment of more than 1.5 billion yuan, an insider
close to the research program tells China Business Weekly.
Research will cover marine
facies blocks of Northeastern and Northern China,
Hunan
Province
,
Hubei
Province, Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region and
Sichuan
Province
, according to
Kang.
Priority will be
given to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,
Erdos
Basin
and
Sichuan
Province
,
Jin says.
Tahe Oilfield in
Xinjiang and Puguang Gasfield in
Sichuan
,
both operated by Sinopec, have exploration discoveries that reinforce marine
facies theories.
Tahe and Puguang
Owned by Sinopec,
Tahe Oilfield is the largest marine facies oilfield in
China
to date.
Sinopec says Tahe
will become one of country's top oilfields in the future, a boost to the firm's
upstream business and the nation's energy supply as a whole.
Proven reserves of
the Xinjiang Tahe field could hit 1 billion tons of oil equivalent in three
years as more exploration efforts are underway, Kang says.
Annual production of
the oilfield is expected to be 10 million tons of oil equivalent by 2010,
according to Kang.
That will make Tahe
one of one of the nation's largest oilfields with total proven reserves of 2
billion tons, Kang notes.
"The overall
resource volume of Tahe Oilfield could be as large as 4 billion tons oil
equivalent," according to Kang. "Its proven reserves have increased
by about 100 to 200 million tons annually since its discovery in 1998. In line
with that growth rate, the cumulative proven reserves there could hit 1 billion
tons by 2010."
The oilfield has
current proven reserves of 780 million tons of oil equivalent.
Puguang Gasfield, the
country's second-largest after Sulige, is also a marine facies field and may
have more gas reserves, according to
China
's top industrial watchdog.
It is estimated
Sinopec's Puguang field's proven gas reserves will grow by as much as 100
billion cubic meters (bcm) this year, expanding the total reserve figure to
about 450 billion by the end of 2007, the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) said recently.
As exploration
efforts deepen, the proven reserve of Puguang may hit between 550 to 580 bcm by
2008, according to the NDRC.
The Puguang field in
Sichuan
had an
exploitable reserve of 356 bcm in 2006, the country's second-largest, according
to the Ministry of Land and Resources.
China
's largest discovered
gasfield, Sulige in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has proven reserves
of 533.6 bcm.
PetroChina, the
country's top oil and gas producer, also has potentially large marine-facies
gasfileds in
Sichuan
Province
.
Sinopec's research on
marine-facies will also fuel exploration and production by other companies, Jin
says.
"Of course,
marine facies fields still contribute a small part of total oil and gas the
country produces every year. But it is the solution for the future," he
adds.
China
's imports of gasoline hit 10-year high
October 22
(chinadaily) -- The National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) has required China National Petroleum Corporation
(PetroChina) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) to
implement national price policies to maintain stable oil prices, the Shanghai
Securities News reported today, citing
Cao Changqing
, director of the NDRC's price
department.
The international crude oil price recorded
the year's new high of US$78.4 per barrel last month. PetroChina and Sinopec,
the two State-owned oil giants, therefore reduced production in their own oil
refineries, causing some local private oil stations to sit idly.
However, the central government has demanded
the oil giants operate at full capacity and control exports, in order to feed
the domestic market.
"They are capable of guaranteeing the
oil supply," Cao said.
Last week, the NDRC promised five million
tons of oil annually to fill private pumps, and it also asked PetroChina and
Sinopec to treat their own subsidiaries and private oil refineries equally and
have no discrimination in supplying oil products.
As
a result, the manufacturers' prices of 90-octane and 93-octane gasoline, as
well as 0-octane diesel, declined by 20 to 40 yuan per ton in a number of
Shandong
Province
's
oil refineries, according to www.oilboss.cn, one of the most authoritative
websites on gas station and oil products distribution business in
China
.
October 11 (China Daily) -- PetroChina
has discovered another major gasfield in western Xinjiang, a source from the
company's Tarim unit confirmed Wednesday.
"The gasfield, known as Dabei III,
boasts an estimated reserve of as much as 130 billion cubic meters, and will
serve as an important backup supply source for the west-east gas
pipelines," he said on condition of anonymity.
PetroChina's
Beijing
office declined to comment but Xinhua quoted officials in the Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region as saying the
Hong Kong
and
New York-listed giant had discovered 130 billion cu m of natural gas.
The discovery has the potential to be the
third largest gas field in Xinjiang, after Kela II and Dina II Gas fields, said
Dai Jinxin, a researcher with the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration
and Development affiliated with PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas
producer.
"Gas fields with reserves of more than
100 billion cu m are considered giant gas fields even globally," Dai said.
Kela II and Dina II gas fields have proven
reserves of 250 and 170 billion cu m.
Since more exploration and evaluation are
needed at the new field, it is too early to give any specific figures, the
source added.
"We will drill more appraisal wells to
determine the final reserve at a cost of around 200 million yuan ($26.6
million)," the insider said. The field has an initial estimated daily
output capacity of 286,000 cu m.
Although Xinjiang currently lags
Sichuan
Province
in terms of annual natural gas
production, the autonomous region has more reserves, Dai said.
Reserves in Xinjiang's
Tarim
Basin
are expected to hit around 8
trillion cu m, compared with the
Sichuan
Basin
's 4 trillion cu m,
Dai told China Daily.
Xinjiang produced about 8 billion cu m of
natural gas last year, while
Sichuan
's
output was 15 billion cu m.
"Given that the transportation capacity
of the west-east gas pipeline will increase this year and a second pipeline is
being planned, the discovery in Xinjiang may turn out to be a shot in the arm
to the country's natural gas industry," said Dai.
The first pipeline runs
4,000 km
and has a capacity to pump 12
billion cu m of natural gas annually from the
Tarim
Basin
to
Shanghai
. It began commercial operation in
2004 and the transmission capacity is set to be raised to 14 billion cu m this
year.
China National Petroleum Corporation,
PetroChina's parent company, is planning the second west-east gas pipeline with
an annual transmission volume of 30 billion cu m, on which construction will
start next year.
The pipeline will transport gas from central
Asian countries - including
Turkmenistan
- and Xinjiang to energy-thirsty eastern and southern
China
, including
Shanghai
and
Guangdong
Province
.
According to BP energy statistics for 2006,
coal accounted for 70 percent of
China
's total primary energy
consumption; oil, 20.6 percent; natural gas, 2.9 percent; hydropower, 5.6
percent; and nuclear power, 0.7 percent.
The
country plans to increase gas use to 5.3 percent of the country's total energy
mix by 2010, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the
top economic planner.
October 20 (China
Daily) -- Fuel oil futures
contracts were pushed up high by the surging crude oil prices in the global
market.
Prices of fuel
oil futures for delivery in November on Shanghai Futures Exchange, SHFE, rose
0.51 percent to close at 3,723 yuan per ton on Friday. In the past several days,
the fuel oil futures price has jumped a total of 2.8 percent, hitting the
record high of 3,770 yuan on Tuesday.
After climbing an
aggregate 10 percent in a week, the benchmark crude oil futures price on the
New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday surged to a record high of $
90.02 a
barrel before falling back slightly
to $89.28.
Traders
attributed the latest price hike to renewed worries about widening supply gap
and the further devaluation of US dollars.
Analysts said the
worry about the declining stockpile of crude oil in world markets has
intensified. Nagging
Middle East
tensions
continued to support the upward trend and the further devaluation of US dollars
drove the price beyond the $90 psychological barrier for the first time.
Cai Lei, an
analyst at Great Wall Futures Co, said an increasing chunk of hedge funds
capital have began to seek refuge by buying crude oil, as the US dollar was
expected to continue to decline. "The increasing need for heating oil as
the winter approaches also help lift the oil prices," Cai added.
"The rising
trend of crude oil will continue to be reflected in the fuel oil futures price
on SHFE, as the domestic market is closely keeping pace with the global
one," said Lin Hui, an analyst at a futures company of Orient Securities.
But analysts said fuel oil futures in the domestic market would not see wide
fluctuations because the prices of spot fuel oil products are controlled by the
government.
It is widely
expected by analysts that fuel oil futures in domestic market to hover around
3,700 yuan per ton in coming days.
Some analysts
also expected that there would be a recovery in refining capacity in the global
market, as world refiners are trying to bring new plants in operation next
year. This could mitigate the increase in the prices of fuel oil and other
downstream products, analysts said.
October 31 (Agencies)--
Gas stations in parts of China are rationing and even halting diesel sales amid
a fuel shortage triggered by a widening gap between soaring crude oil prices
and government-controlled retail prices, the financial chief of China's biggest
refiner said yesterday.
"Oil prices
are rising but (domestic) oil product prices are kept low by the government.
The impact on our refining operations is quite big," Dai Houliang, chief
financial officer at China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, said
in a teleconference in
Hong Kong
to discuss
the company's third-quarter results.
Dai said overall
supplies in
China
were still stable, but that some areas might experience shortages.
He blamed rising
demand as well as bad weather, which was preventing supplies getting to some
areas.
"We will try
the best to ensure a stable supply of fuel in the market, but it's a big
challenge for us," he said.
Filling station
operators in
Shanghai
confirmed they were reducing or halting sales due to the shortages.
"We have no
diesel at all. I have no idea when the situation will return to normal. We're
not getting any supplies from our company," said a staffer at the Sinopec
Qibao gas station in western
Shanghai
.
The problem was
especially acute in districts traversed by cargo trucks crossing the city to
get to container ports along the coast.
With crude oil
prices approaching US$
100 a
barrel, some refineries in
China
have chosen to shut down for "maintenance" rather than continue
operations, Shanghai Daily reported.
Light, sweet
crude for December delivery fell back a bit yesterday after hitting a record
trading high of US$93.80 on Monday.
Local newspapers
reported that filling stations have been rationing gas on an informal basis,
allowing each customer only a quarter tank of diesel or less.
The worst
shortages have been in south
China
's
Guangdong
and
Fujian
provinces, as well as eastern
Zhejiang
Province
and central
Henan
Province
,
they said.
In 2005, fuel
shortages that authorities blamed partly on tanker transport disruptions due to
typhoons resulted in long lines at filling stations in southern
China
. The
government ordered refiners to stop exporting fuel oil and meet domestic demand
first.
Filling stations
in
Shanghai
have also seen shortages of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), causing problems for
those using LPG-fueled scooters and cars.
Dai's comment
came after the company late on Monday posted a forecast-beating 5.5 percent
rise in third-quarter net profit under international accounting standards, even
though its refineries swung back to an operating loss.
Net profit
totaled 13.63 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) over the three months ended
yesterday, under international accounting standards, up from 12.92 billion yuan
in the same period last year.
October 11 (China Daily) -- It was meant to showcase the crystal clear air
sports fans and athletes will enjoy during the Beijing Olympics.
But environment expert Yang Fuqiang fears the
capital's air quality didn't improve enough during the Games test period.
"Pollutants caused by car waste dropped
between 15 to 20 percent during the four-day car ban in August, but I am
thinking about 50 to 60 percent decrease of pollutants for next year,"
said Yang, who has lived in the capital for 14 years.
Yang spent seven years in the 1970s and 80s in the
capital as an energy researcher, and has lived here for another seven since
2000 as chief representative of the US-based Energy Foundation in
Beijing
.
"We wouldn't like the first Olympic experience
most of us have to turn sour," he said. "We need stronger measures
now, rather than regret afterward."
Beijing
's fast-growing
economy has partly come at the price of its ecology. Old-fashioned factories
and thousands of new cars give citizens a hard time, leaving the skyline smoggy
and regularly blowing sandstorms into town during the spring.
Measures to combat pollution began in 1998 when the
capital realized the urgency of cleaning up the air, with the government alone
spending 120 billion yuan ($16 billion) in the intervening years on
environmental work.
During the week-long National Day holiday that ended
on October 7, countless drivers headed out of the city for countryside breaks.
Statistics from
Beijing
's
environmental bureau show air quality during the holiday was three times better
than usual.
But for Zhang Lian, a 46-year-old cab driver, the
difference passed unnoticed.
"Seven days don't make a big difference,"
he said. "If we can remove cars for a month or two, that would be quite
something."
A more stringent plan shielding the Olympic city
from major pollution before and during the Games is under final revision at the
national and local environmental authorities, Beijing-based Caijing magazine
reported in its latest issue. If the second draft gets the green light from the
State Council, it will become the most serious move by
China
to
guarantee air quality so far.
According to a draft released,
Beijing
will bring down coal use to 25
million tons a year from over 30 million, update energy-consuming production
techniques at major polluting factories, and apply recycling procedures at over
1,000 gas stations throughout the city before officially opening the Olympic
Village by the end of July 2008.
From July 24 to September 20, the city, which will
have over 3.3 million vehicles on the road by then, plans to remove 70 percent
of government vehicles and half the private cars. Chemical, steel and building
materials plants will also suspend operations, while power generating plants
will be forced to reduce coal burning during the 58-day Games period.
There is also an unprecedented plan for regional
governments in neighboring industrial clusters such as
Hebei
and
Shanxi
provinces to join in measures ahead of and during the Games.
"I think the rules can be understood and
carried out," said Yang. "After all, the purpose is for athletes to
feel pleasant and comfortable to compete.
"We don't want athletes to be angry about
Beijing
's air and lower
their expectations."
Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Company, which
provides about half of the city's 5 million tons of gasoline each year, will
become the first and only provider of gasoline under the EURO IV standard from
next New Year's Day pending a government order.
If implemented, the move will cut 1,400 tons from
the 180,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions which escape into the sky above
Beijing
every year.
The company is also proposing to the municipal
government to install nitrogen dioxide control at their key production areas,
said Ma Chenghua, a senior manager.
"Certainly we support the government plans
because the Olympics is an exceptional event. However, although
Beijing
can stop steel
production, it can't do without a minimum of gasoline needed to keep the city
operating safely," he told China Daily.
It has been reported that power plants around the
city are concerned about the impact of a 58-day suspension. But in the long
term, another problem looms for the environment watchdog: catching up with what
many other cities consider the starting line.
"In our current air quality index, nitrogen
dioxide density is not considered a major factor and ozone air pollution is
totally excluded," said Yang. "In western cities, where these things
are measured, even unpleasant days are better than some of the best weather we
have here."
The environment expert said
Beijing
may need a little help from the
weather to keep the air flowing during the Games.
We are completely confident that Olympic athletes
will be able to take part in their competitions normally next August," Liu
Qi, Beijing Party chief and head of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee
told the Financial Times last month, citing the focus on implementing
environmental rules instead of short-term measures.
"The main thing is to strengthen factories'
management of gases and reduce emissions," Liu said.
Yang said he agreed with Liu's plan to develop more
energy-saving technology and public transport.
"In the end,
Beijing
has a leading role to play and this
is an opportunity to show the country that the government cares about the
health of the general public as much as the health of international athletes
coming for the Games," he added.
October 31 (China Daily) -- At the 15th Economic Leaders' Informal
Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held in Sydney last
month, President Hu Jintao made proposals for tackling climate change,
including ways to strengthen cooperation, pursue sustainable development and
promote scientific and technological innovation. He stressed that "climate
change is ultimately a development issue and it can only be addressed in the
course of sustainable development".
Hu's speech was
echoed and supported by developing countries in
Southeast
Asia
.
The international
community has long recognized the right of developing countries to development
with regard to climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992 pointed out clearly that developed countries have
contributed the biggest proportion of greenhouse gas emission historically and
at present, the per capita emission of developing countries is still relatively
low, the developing countries' emission quotas will be increased to meet the
demand for their economic and social development.
As post-Kyoto
Protocol negotiations continue, the right of development is being widely
emphasized by developing countries, especially large developing countries like
China
and
India
. The Chinese government
published its National Climate Change Program in June, which made it clear that
climate change is ultimately a development issue.
Development is a
necessary and irreversible process in human history. To a certain degree,
climate change is irreversible too. This requires the international community
to have a common understanding on emission reduction and development. Latest
scientific research shows that global warming started as early as 500 years ago
and human factors are not alone to blame. In such a situation, it is
unreasonable to stress emission reduction while ignoring the right to
development.
The fragility of
developing countries shows the urgency to adapt to climate change and realize
their right to development. Generally speaking, developing countries with
underdeveloped economies are more vulnerable to the influence and damage of
climate change. Take
China
for example, climate change has already caused obvious impacts on its
agriculture, forests, water resources and coast areas. And the least-developed
countries and small island countries are the most fragile ones.
The disparities and
complementary relations between developing and developed countries have
provided feasible and extensive prospects for cooperation in realizing the
right of developing countries to development. Developed countries can cooperate
with developing countries by helping the latter to reduce emissions. Such
cooperation will help ease the contradiction between emission reduction and
economic development. The Clean Development Mechanism advocated by the Kyoto
Protocol has provided such a mode of cooperation.
The mechanism can
help developed countries to fulfill their obligation in emission reduction and
developing countries to realize their right to development. The trade in
emission quotas can help realize both goals - emission reduction and
development rights.
Another climate
change issue which has emerged in recent years is how to guarantee the energy
security of developing countries. Increased demand has led to high oil prices
and developing countries have to depend more on coal, which leads to even
bigger greenhouse gas emission. Past experience tell us that we cannot afford
to pollute first and improve later. The most effective method to cope with
climate change while guaranteeing the energy security of developing countries
is to improve their energy utilization rate through technology.
One of the focuses of
current negotiations is whether developing countries, especially large
countries like
China
,
India
and
Brazil
, should shoulder the same
responsibilities for emission reduction like the developed countries. This
concerns the issue of giving priority to emission reduction or development.
The UNFCCC makes it
clear that, on the bases of fairness, all signatory countries according to
their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,
should protect the climate system in the interests of all human beings, and
developed countries should take the lead in reducing emissions and helping
developing countries. Developing countries should also make, implement,
publicize and regularly update their national programs to address climate
change. This is the well-known UNFCCC principle of "common but
differentiated responsibilities", which sets out the major
responsibilities of developed countries. The Kyoto Protocol has set the
obligation of compulsory emission reduction according to this principle and has
thus displeased some developed countries.
What is more, the
UNFCCC said: "The extent to which developing country parties will
effectively implement their commitments under the convention will depend on the
effective implementation by developed country parties of their commitments
under the convention related to financial resources and transfer of technology
and will take fully into account that economic and social development and
poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing
country parties." This spells out the developed countries'
responsibilities in promoting the rights of developing countries to
development.
It is a pity that
developed countries have shown insufficient sincerity and made inadequate
efforts to fulfill the above obligations. The
United
States
and
Australia
have rejected the Kyoto
Protocol with the excuse that compulsory emission reduction will obstruct economic
development and research conclusions about climate change still lack credence.
So far developed countries have only committed $182 million to the adaptation
fund for all poor countries. The emergency programs of the least-developed
countries alone will need $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
The author is an official with the Liaison
Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region.
October 31 (China
Daily) -- The government is determined to work with
global partners to turn the demanding task of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions into lucrative business opportunities, a senior official said
Tuesday.
Xie Zhenhua, vice-minister of the National
Development and Reform Commission, said the country has already forged close
partnerships with some developed countries for trading carbon dioxide and
methane, the two major GHGs causing global warming.
"
China
faces arduous tasks in
dealing with climate change but the potential for reducing greenhouse gases is
tremendous; and so are business opportunities," said Xie, who is also the
deputy director of the National Leading Group of Work Responding to Climate
Change.
Xie's optimism stems from the fact that
nearly half the country's coal mines have a high concentration of methane -
most of it discharged as part of mine safety.
"But if technology, capital and
environmental protection awareness are combined, we can make coal cleaner,
reduce methane emissions and let methane serve as an alternative energy
source," Xie told China Daily prior to the Methane to Markets Partnership
Conference and Expo which opened yesterday in Beijing with more than 600
participants from 30 countries.
The three-day conference is an important
component of the Methane to Markets Partnership, an international initiative
launched in 2004. It is aimed at offering cost-effective technologies and
information to improve methane recovery and use as a clean energy. About 20
countries, including
China
and the
United States
,
have joined the partnership.
Methane is a potent GHG, 23 times more
powerful than carbon dioxide, accounting for 16 percent of global GHG emissions
from a variety of sources.
John Beale, deputy assistant administrator
of the US Environmental Protection Administration, said nine of the top 10
methane-emitting countries have joined the partnership.
"We look forward to continuing to grow
the partnership and several other countries have shown interest," said
Beale.
To turn more emissions into alternative
energy, Xie called for a stronger international partnership to remove
technological and capital barriers that prevent the reduction of methane
emission.
Huang Shengchu, president of the China Coal
Information Institute, said the recovery of coal bed methane, which can greatly
prevent coal mine accidents, can be quickly developed into a profit-making
industry.
Annual coal bed methane emissions in
China
stand at 15 billion cubic meters as coal output has been increasing. In
comparison, only about 3.2 billion cubic meters was vented from coal mine
drainage systems last year. "In the past, we released methane for work
safety consideration; now, we recover the gas for purposes of safety, resources
and environmental protection," said Huang.
October 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and a group of
other state leaders were pictured wearing open-necked shirts with short
sleeves, rather than their normal jackets and ties when attending a
high-profile conference at the
Party
School
of the Communist
Party of China Central Committee on June 25 of this year.
The less formal
attire wasn't just for their own comfort.
China
's leaders are trying to set
an example for all the office workers to dress in light, casual clothing in
summer in order to reduce the use of air conditioners.
The State Council, or
cabinet, ordered in June that air-conditioning units in most office buildings
be set no cooler than 26 degrees Celsius. "As a developing country,
China
tries to
shoulder more responsibilities in addressing the issue of climate change and
reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions," says Lu Xuedu, deputy director
of the Global Environmental Affairs Office of the Ministry of Science and
Technology.
In
China
's National Climate Change
Program issued on June 4, the government pledged to restructure the economy,
promote clean energy technologies and improve energy efficiency. With the new
program, the nation has opted not to hide behind the fact that the Kyoto
Protocol frees developing countries from the obligation to reduce GHG
emissions, said Ma Kai, minister in charge of the National Development and
Reform Commission.
An Imminent Threat
"Climate change
has begun to take its toll in
China
in recent years, and we shouldn't wait till it is too late to take
action," says Lu Xuedu.
Since the mid-1980s,
China
has
experienced 19 warm winters. In 2006, the average temperature for winter hit
9.92 degrees Celsius, the highest since 1951, according to statistics from the
National
Meteorological
Center
.
Lu points out that if
climate change remains unchecked, the output of
China
's major crops including
wheat, rice and corn will drop by up to 37 percent in the second half of this
century. Global warming will also reduce the river levels, and lead to more
droughts and floods. And water supply in western
China
will fall short of demand by
up to 20 billion cubic meters from 2010 to 2030.
Climate change also
presents a major threat to ecologically vulnerable areas such as the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, says Qin Dahe, an expert in glaciers, who is also an
academician of the
Chinese
Academy
of Sciences
(CAS).
"The glaciers on
the plateau have been melting faster in recent decades," he said.
If the speed of the
temperature rise fails to slow down, he warns, the total area of glaciers on
the plateau will shrink to 100,000 square kilometers in 2030 from 500,000
square kilometers in 1995.
Since many major
rivers in Asia come from the plateau, this shrinkage might result in water
shortages for more than one billion people in
Asia
.
Liu Jingshi, a
researcher with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research Institute of the CAS, adds
the plateau has also softened as global warming melts the permafrost.
Liu says that the melting
permafrost has already flooded some of the Tibetan herdsmen's families, and
will become even more dangerous to them if the temperature continues to rise.
International Collaborations
The per-capita emissions of greenhouse gas in
China
stand at 3.66 tons, less than one third the level of developed nations such as
the
Netherlands
,
said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a press conference in late June.
As a developing country,
China
is not obliged to meet targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, under which most
industrialized countries are required to reduce gas emissions by an average of
5.2 percent below the 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012.
Despite low per-capita emissions, Qin says, the Chinese government has
placed great emphasis on climate change and has employed effective measures to
cut emissions and their negative impacts.
The spokesman called on the international community to strengthen
cooperation and help more countries embark on the road of clean development
that both protects the environment and eco-systems and ensures the fulfillment
of their development goals.
"
China
is still
in the process of industrialization, and has the potential to become one of the
world's leaders in reducing GHG if proper technologies can be adopted before
the industrial facilities are built," said Dr Jason Blackstock, a
researcher at
Harvard
University
.
He says that developed nations should also take the responsibility to
help
China
and other developing countries by providing the advanced technologies needed
for reducing GHG through international collaborations.
Finding Alternatives To actively address the issue of climate change,
China
released the National Climate Change Program.
It is estimated if all the objectives prescribed in the program are
achieved -- on hydro and nuclear power generation, upgrading of thermal power
generation, facilitation of coal-bed-gas development, the use of renewable
energy resources such as wind power, solar power and terrestrial heat,
forestation and energy-saving -- the world's most populous country will emit
1.5 billion tons less carbon dioxide by 2010 while still continuing to grow
rapidly.
China
also issued the
General Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Pollutant Discharge Reduction,
under which the government pledged to adhere to its plan for energy efficiency
and to reduce major pollutant discharges by 10 percent by the year 2010.
The work plan criticized some government departments for their poor
awareness of the importance of energy efficiency and pollutant reduction.
The central government will reform the mechanism of evaluating local
governments and their leaders by including the implementations of
energy-efficiency and emission-reduction tasks into their performances,
according to the work plan.
It also contains instructions to government departments to work out
detailed measures for this reform. Units, branches and bodies of the central
government are asked to take the lead in procuring energy-efficient,
water-efficient and environment-friendly products, such as air conditioners,
computers, printers and displays.
The state will encourage and direct financial institutions to enhance
credit support for environment-protection and pollution-reduction projects.
Preferential tax policies will be offered for such projects.
The government will also reform pricing mechanisms for resource
products, such as refined oil, natural gas and electricity, and restrict
exports of high-energy consuming and heavy-polluting products.
Energy use in high-energy consuming industries, such as steel,
non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals and cement production, will be optimized to
realize energy-saving targets.
The government has also taken action to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Non-fossil fuels will account for 30 percent of
China
's
energy consumption in 2050, compared with the current 10 percent, says Yan
Luguang, a researcher at the
Chinese
Academy
of Sciences.
Even though
China
's
per capita greenhouse gas emissions are lower than countries like the
United States
or
Australia
, its heavy reliance on
coal makes it a major polluter and a major contributor to emissions that cause
climate change.
By 2050, the burning of coal will account for a much smaller proportion
in
China
's
energy consumption compared with 70 percent now, says Yan.
Oil consumption would contribute around 20 percent of the total and
reach 800 million tons in 2050, 75 percent of which would be imported from
foreign countries.
As
China
's
energy demands continue to grow, a sufficient oil supply is critical to the
country's energy security.
The demand for natural gas, hydropower and nuclear power will grow and by
2050 solar energy, wind energy and biomass energy will account for 15 percent
of the nation's total energy consumption. Scientific Support
Aiming for a green and hi-tech 2008 Olympics,
China
has designed the Olympic
venues to be as environment friendly as possible, with "green"
materials, and energy saving and water recycling systems.
The Olympic stadiums have also introduced solar and wind energy and
other new energies, which are vital in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Ministry of Science and Technology and 14 other government
departments in June jointly issued a special action plan for science and
technology for
China
to deal with climate change, providing scientific support to the National
Climate Change Program.
China
invested 2.5
billion yuan (330 million U.S. dollars) in the research and development for
climate change control during its 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005).
In the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), says Minister of Science
and Technology Wan Gang, the government will invest more in this field, with
4.6 billion yuan (610 million U.S. dollars) already put into a number of
projects.
The nation must consider developing a "low-carbon economy" and
a "carbon-absorbing economy", says Wan. A low-carbon economy is a low
energy-consuming and low pollution-based economy.
Other methods,
such as optimizing energy structure, improving energy efficiency and developing
clean and renewable energy, should also be taken to deal with the climate
change, he says.
October 26 (China Daily) -- Climate change, extinction of
species and the challenge of sustaining a fast growing population are among the
major factors threatening humanity's survival. This is what a new UN report
released yesterday says. Essentially, it paints a somewhat stark picture of our
future and highlights the high price the
Asia
and the Pacific region is paying for its so-called progress in reducing
poverty.
The well being of
billions of people in the developing world is at risk, simply because it has
failed to remedy "the relatively simple" problems that have been
tackled elsewhere, says the report. Ecosystems and human health in the region
continue to deteriorate because of environmental degradation and loss of natural
resources driven by population growth and rapid economic development.
The warning is the
latest in a series on the global environment outlook released by the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP). Despite the bleak picture, the UNEP yet again
says it doesn't want to present a "dark and gloomy scenario". Rather,
it is a call to arms, for people to take more stringent action.
UNEP Executive
Director Achim Steiner says that in the past two decades, the world's response
to environmental issues has at times been "courageous and inspiring".
But all too often it has been "slow and at a pace and scale that fails to
respond to the magnitude of the challenges".
Progress has been
achieved in cutting the production of ozone-layer damaging chemicals by 95
percent and creation of a greenhouse gas emission reduction treaty.
But some old issues
remain and new ones are emerging: from the rapid rise of oxygen "dead
zones" in the oceans, to the resurgence of new and old diseases linked
partly to environmental degradation. The report emphasizes the potential impact
of climate change, which is likely result in more severe droughts and floods.
"The threat is now so urgent that large cuts in greenhouse gases by
mid-century are needed," it says.
As a "global
priority", climate change demands political will and leadership, says
UNEP. Yet it finds "a remarkable lack of urgency", and a
"woefully inadequate" global response. One such example is some
highly polluting countries' refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which among other
things requires signatory nations to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The
report says: "Some industrial sectors that were unfavorable to the
Protocol managed successfully to undermine the political will to ratify
it."
A major meeting is
expected to be held in
Indonesia
in December to begin discussions on a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty.
The
Asia
and the Pacific region, which is home to 60 percent of the world's population,
is making "remarkable progress" in reducing poverty, says the UN
report. The region's environmental protection measures, energy efficiency and
drinking water provision have improved too in the past decade. Several
countries have already achieved many of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG)
targets and have set themselves new and more demanding goals, called MDG Plus.
But progress has come
at a high cost. The report says: "Increases in consumption have
contributed to the exponential growth in existing environmental problems.
Serious challenges remain, including urban air quality, fresh water stress,
agricultural land use (a threat to food security) and increased waste. The
illegal traffic in electronic and hazardous waste is a new challenge affecting
human health and the environment."
Environmental and
economic policies have not been fully integrated, and that is a major obstacle
in the path of an effective system of environmental management. The report says
ecosystems and human health in
Asia
and the
Pacific region continue to deteriorate, while population growth and rapid
economic development causes more environmental damage and depletes natural
resources further.
The air quality in
the region is suffering serious damage because of growing energy needs and the
"exploding" growth in the number of vehicles. In the 1990s, the
number of cars and motorcycles in
China
and
India
rose by more than 10 percent a year.
Haze pollution from
forest fires in
Southeast Asia
has worsened
matters. Excessive use of surface and underground water, industrial pollution,
and inefficient use of fresh water are responsible for the water crisis. There
are also indications of unprecedented glacier retreats in the
Himalayan-Hindukush region.
Southeast Asian
countries have earmarked 14.8 percent of their land for protection, above the
world average of 12 percent for 2003. But elsewhere in the
Asia
and the Pacific region less than 10 per cent of land is protected.
Land sharks and the
urbanization drive have caused arable land to shrink throughout the region,
even though some countries appear to have taken counter-measures such as
substituting new arable land for the degraded area.
The region has been
the fastest developing in the world since the past two decades, imposing
enormous pressure on the ecosystems such as mangrove forests and coral reefs.
The newfound affluence of the region's peoples and their new lifestyles have
changed consumption patterns, generating large quantities of waste. Unsanitary
landfills contaminating the soil and groundwater are major causes for concern.
More than 90 percent
of the 20-50 million tons of electronic waste that is generated every year
across the globe ends up in
Bangladesh
,
China
,
India
,
Myanmar
and
Pakistan
.
And Asian workers reportedly use "obsolete technologies to process 21st
century wastes". Effective waste management strategies and systems are
either completely lacking or else inadequate in many countries in the region,
posing a serious threat to human and environmental health.
But
the report also says technology can help reduce people's vulnerability.
Humanity's future will be determined largely by the decisions individuals and
society take now. "Our common future depends on our actions today, not
tomorrow or some time in the future
October 22 (China Daily) --
China
attaches great importance to
climate change and has always been a responsible player combating global
warming, delegates at the 17th Party congress said, ahead of a number of
international meetings addressing the problem.
Party General Secretary Hu Jintao said at the congress that
all countries "should assist and cooperate with each other in conservation
efforts to take good care of the Earth, our only home".
For the first time the CPC has added global environmental
issues to its political report at the congress, setting out the country's top priorities
in the following five years. The Party leadership has also put domestic
environmental protection and energy reduction high on the agenda.
Pledging cooperation on economic, social, cultural and
environmental issues, Hu called on people to join hands and strive to build a
harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity.
Congress delegates hailed Hu's speech as a new expression of
the country's purpose to combat global climate change.
"
China
should actively take on the environmental protection issue and push forward on
behalf of developing countries," said Pan Yue, congress delegate and
vice-minister of the State Environment Protection Administration.
He said the impact of centuries of industrial development by
developed nations needs addressing and barriers for the transfer of
environmental technologies should be swept away.
The vice-minister added that the current energy and production
and consumption structure needs restructuring on the basis of environmental
protection. He said pollution had to be cut and
China
would be a responsible player
in terms of managing climate change.
"Environmental protection is not only a key field where
China
can catch up and be integrated with the
international community, but also a stage where
China
can put forward the concepts
of a harmonious world and peaceful development," Pan said, on the
sidelines of the congress.
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said
China
attaches great importance to
a number of upcoming international conferences on combating climate change.
"
China
has always been in full compliance with the principles set out by the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto
Protocol," Yang said.
Under the principle of "common but differentiated
responsibility", all countries have an obligation to protect the world's
environment. As each country is at different development stages, they share
different obligations.
China
,
which has tens of millions of people trying to solve basic problems, has
"survival emissions".
These are not in the same category as developed countries,
which should take the blame for the majority of global warming because of their
greenhouse gas emissions in the past 200 years, said Zheng Guoguang, director
of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).
China
is best among all developing countries in terms of environmental protection,
Zheng said. "We have started a national action plan and are committed to
cut energy consumption even though there is no international obligation for us
to do so," he said.
Zheng said
China
has always attached great importance to environmental issues and sent the
biggest delegation to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change negotiations.
"
China
holds that all countries in the world should work together to address global
warming, which is a foundation for our development and life," he said.
China
: Help poorer nations with climate change
October 20 (Xinhua)
-- A senior Chinese official urged the international community in
Washington
to make
greater efforts to help developing countries deal with climate change.
"Securing global energy safety and preventing global
climate change has an important bearing on the national economy and people's
livelihood in the world," Li Yong, China's vice finance minister, said at
a ministerial meeting of the Group of 24 (G-24).
China
believes that the international community should follow the principle of
"common but differentiated responsibility" and make greater efforts
to transfer technologies to the developing countries so as to help them improve
their capacity for dealing with climate change, he said.
Li said that
China
supports the World Bank's new strategy which broadens and deepens the Clean
Energy Investment Framework (CEIF).
CEIF should not only actively address climate change, but also
aim to meet the increasing energy demand of developing countries, in particular
low-income countries, he stressed.
In this connection, "we strongly call on the bank to
expand its energy assistance to Sub-Sahara Africa in a more vigorous way,"
said the official.
"We encourage the bank to explore new financing
mechanisms to mobilize sufficient financial resources and compensate for the
developing countries' incremental cost of emission reduction," he said.
China
supports the establishment of a long-term and reliable clean energy policy
framework which reflects the principle of "common but differentiated
responsibility."
Also, "we urge the bank to utilize its comparative
advantages and explore the possibility of creating an international technology
cooperation fund to help improve the access of developing countries to
affordable and advanced environmentally-friendly technologies," Li said.
China
will continue to join actively in the international cooperation in the field of
climate change and commit itself to its cooperation with developing countries
under the framework of South-South cooperation and improve jointly their
capacity for dealing with climate change, the official said.
The G-24 was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions
of developing countries on international monetary and development finance
issues and to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in
negotiations on international monetary matters.
China
has been invited to attend its meetings since 1981. |
