June 22 (chinadaily) -- The
nation saw a remarkable investment flow of $9 billion into the renewable energy
sector last year, mostly in wind and solar segments, according to a report
released yesterday by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
The 46-page analysis says globally,
investment in sustainable energy investment climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to
$100 billion last year, with unprecedented growth in developing countries,
particularly China, India and Brazil.
China, the world's largest producer of
renewable energy, took a healthy 9 percent of global investment last year,
which was helped by significant asset financing activity in the wind, biomass
and waste sectors, the report says.
Eric Usher, head of Renewable Energy Finance
at UNEP, told China Daily that growth was led by both the Renewable Energy Law
the country promulgated last year and the Clean Development Mechanism, a carbon
credit trading system under the Kyoto Protocol.
"We also see (in China) a more mature
type of investment across the finance spectrum including public market and venture capitals,"
Usher said in a phone interview.
Chris Greenwood, director of operations in
New Energy Finance who co-authored the report, added that State incentives also
played a key role. He particularly referred to the government's goal of
reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by
20 percent by 2010 from 2005.
The country is expected to continue
embracing growth of 30 to 40 percent in sustainable energy investment this
year, with more companies going public and the government's target of enhancing solar and wind power capacity,
Greenwood estimated.
China
aims to supply 15 percent of primary energy through renewable sources by 2020.
Installed wind capacity, for example, almost doubled last year to about 2.3
gigawatts from 2005, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
The UNEP report says that while renewable
sources today produce about 2 percent of the world's energy, they now account
for about 18 percent of global investment in power generation, with wind
generation at the forefront.
Solar and biofuel energy technologies grew
even more quickly than wind, but from a smaller base, it adds.
It attributes the growth to a combined
effect of global concerns over climate change, increasing energy demands and
energy security, in addition to persistently high oil prices, growing consumer
awareness of energy efficiency and government incentives.
June 19
(chinadaily) -- China,
the world's second-largest energy consumer, will this year begin offering
corporate income tax preferences to overseas investors in natural gas
processing, marketing and construction of urban gas pipelines in a move to use
more of the clean energy source.
Overseas companies investing in these fields
will be exempted from the corporate income tax during their first two years of
profitability, according to China's tax laws, the State Administration of
Taxation said.
Over the following three years they will be
charged half of the tax.
When the preference ends, overseas firms
investing in construction of urban gas pipelines will pay a tax of just 15
percent.
China now levies a 17 percent corporate
income tax on overseas companies, compared with 33 percent on domestic firms.
However, according to a new corporate income
tax law passed in March, charges on both overseas and domestic companies will
be 25 percent next year.
Zhang Deyong, a researcher from the
institute of finance and trade economics under the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, said the government expects to bring more foreign capital and
advanced technologies in the natural gas sector by providing the tax preferences.
"Natural gas is in short supply in
China. The sector needs a governmental boost badly," Zhang told China
Daily.
China plans to amplify natural gas
consumption as part of its drive to cut pollution and alleviate heavy
dependence on coal.
According to a government plan revealed in
April, the ratio of natural gas in the country's total energy consumption will
rise to 5.3 percent a year in 2010, up from 2.8 percent in 2005.
Meanwhile, the proportion of coal will
decline to 66.21 percent from 69.1 percent.
Natural gas production in China will reach
92 billion cubic meters a year in 2010, up from 47.9 billion cubic meters in
2005, according to the program.
Last month, the nation's natural gas output
climbed by 16.7 percent year-on-year to 5.35 billion cubic meters, according to
industry data.
China is determined to cut major pollutant
emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 10 percent during the period.
June
24 (xinhua) -- Under heavy pressure to cut energy consumption, China is
now turning the spotlight on to construction projects, the transportation
sector and government buildings.
China's top legislature on Sunday began
deliberating a draft amendment to the Law on Conserving Energy, which details measures
to avoid energy waste in the three areas to improve energy efficiency and cut
pollution emissions.
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.
"Achieving the target is highly
problematic. Energy consumption in some areas and industries just keeps
rising," Fu Zhihuan, chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of
the National People's Congress (NPC), told lawmakers in a report.
Fu said energy consumption in these three
areas has been rising rapidly. He said they had not been given enough attention
and were the "weak link" in China's energy-saving campaign.
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.
The draft, tabled to lawmakers for a first
reading, says that construction project must reach obligatory energy-saving
standards and buildings and plants already built will be subject to regular
inspection by building authorities.
It also says Chinese cities will gradually
replace antiquated central heating with modern household heating systems that
can be individually regulated.
Other energy-saving measures include strict
control of the indoor temperature of public buildings and restrictions on
decorative lighting for large buildings.
China has built 1.06 billion square meters
of energy efficient buildings, but the figure represents only 7 percent of the
total floor space of existing buildings in up[ rban China, statistics from the
Ministry of Construction show.
According to a survey by the ministry in 30
regions, the four municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing
are doing relatively well in implementing energy saving codes, but other
regions are a long way behind in technological standards and government
supervision.
The
draft, which almost doubles the articles of the original law, also requires
governments at all levels to increase investment in public transport, improve
services and encourage the public to use public transport.
China,
once known as the kingdom of bicycles, has overtaken Japan to become the
world's second largest auto market after the United States with Chinese
people's love for private vehicles showing no sign of abating. The number of
privately owned motor vehicles rose 18.8 percent year-on-year to 22 million in
China in 2006.
The
draft says that the Chinese government encourages the development, production,
selling and use of environmental-friendly vehicles and new types of automobile
propelled by new clean fuel, in an effort to save energy and cut emissions.
The
draft also requires governments at all levels to make energy-saving plans for
their office buildings and make the details public.
It
bans government from purchasing high energy-consuming equipment, saying that
energy-saving products should be the priority in government procurement.
The
State Council, or the cabinet, in early June issued a circular, ordering that
the temperature of all air-conditioned public rooms in China should be kept at
no lower than 26 degrees Celsius.
All
government agencies, associations, groups, companies and private owners in
public buildings should strictly comply with this rule, according to the
circular.
The
draft also highlighted energy efficiency in the industrial sector, saying that
China will continue to push forward industrial restructuring and technical
innovation to gradually weed out outdated production methods.
The
six high energy-consuming and highly polluting industries -- electricity,
steel, nonferrous metals, construction materials, oil processing and chemicals
-- which account for nearly 70 percent of energy consumption and sulfur dioxide
discharges of the entire industrial sector, grew by 20.6 percent in the first
quarter of 2007, 6.6 percentage points higher than the same period a year
earlier.
The
government will issue preferential policies in financial investment, taxation,
price, credit and government procurement to encourage energy-saving, according
to the draft.
The
Chinese government has announced a series of measures to cut energy consumption
this year in order to meet strict energy efficiency and pollutant reduction
targets, which it failed last year.
The
State Council has set up a leading group head by Premier Wen Jiabao to oversee
the national efforts for energy efficiency and discharge reduction.
Experts
believe that by sharpening rules and punishments in the nine-year-old law,
China will be able to achieve the widely publicized targets by 2010 and move in
the direction of sustainable development.
"If
China fails to significantly reduce energy consumption this year, it will be
almost impossible for the country to reach the goal by 2010," said Dai
Yande, deputy director of the energy institution under the NDRC.
"The
draft amendment, which come at a critical moment, will provide a strong legal
basis for China to further intensify its energy-saving campaign," Dai
said.
June 10 (xinhua) -- China,
which is rich in coal but poor in petroleum and gas, may put an end to projects
which are designed to produce petroleum by liquefying coal, an official with
the country's top economic planning agency has said.
The consideration came after evaluation of
the nation's limited energy resources and its ecological environment, a deputy
director of the industry department of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) told a seminar on China's fuel ethanol development, held in Beijing on
Saturday.
"Liquefied
coal projects consume a lot of energy, though the successful industrialization
of liquefied coal could help reduce the country's dependence on
petroleum," said the official who declined to be named.
The Chinese government said earlier it would
invest more in developing alternative energy resources including biomass fuel
and liquefied coal to substitute petroleum during the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-2010) period, amid concerns over the country's growing dependence on
petroleum.
China, the world's second-largest energy
consumer, imported 162.87 million tons of oil in 2006, driving the country's
reliance on imported oil up 4.1 percentage points from a year earlier to reach
47 percent, official statistics show.
The country is also confronted with huge
capital demand and higher consumption of water and coal in producing the
liquefied coal, the official said.
A project in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with a designed capacity of 1.08 million tons would need more
than 50 billion yuan (6.58 billion U.S. dollars) of investment, according to him.
June
29 (chinadaily) -- The author Zou Ji is vice-dean of the Environmental
School of Renmin University of China
China,
a developing country, has welcomed the principle of "common but
differentiated responsibility" in implementing the Kyoto Protocol, which
is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The
United Nations Framework on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol both benefit and
reflect China's and most developing countries' position.
But
how long can this favorable situation last? It depends.
During
the last decade since Kyoto Protocol was signed, great changes have taken place
both at home and abroad.
China
is coming under mounting international pressure to cut emissions by larger
margins. Research conducted by the International Panel on Climate Change drives
home the gravity of the situation caused by the deteriorating climate.
But
the most significant change of all is that China has begun to act on the
concept of development on a scientific basis.
The
Chinese government has long emphasized the need to reduce waste discharges,
upgrade its mode of economic growth, boost environmental protection and promote
sustainable development.
During
the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000), for instance, one of the government's top
priorities was to switch the extensive-growth economic model to a
resources-saving one.
In
essence, the government's economic strategy today is the extension of its
policy yesterday. The difference lies only in the forcefulness of its implementation
and in its priority.
Now,
the government strongly emphasizes the notion to put in practice scientific
development, the need to build a resource-saving society, generate a circular
economy and significantly reduce pollutant discharges.
The
intensity of the emphasis on clean economy has never been seen before in the
country, which can be atributed to a host of profound factors.
During
the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05) for example, the country was
confronted by strong restrictions in resources and found itself in a
development phase marked by high consumption of resources and energy.
This
is bound to become a huge sticking point on China's policy on climate change.
The
country's basic position on the issue remains unchanged, of course. What is
different is that China is now pushing for greater energy conservation and a
larger reduction of pollutant discharges much more forcefully, with the
interests of global climate conditions being tied directly with domestic
environmental protection policies.
However,
new policy goals in this regard still need to be set.
June 15 (chinadaily) -- In
the face of stiff competition from Paris and Toronto, Beijing won the bid to
host the 2008 Olympics partly on its pledge to leave a strong environmental
legacy behind and play catch-up with its "greener" rivals.
One of the key tools to
help the city fulfil this pledge to host a "Green Olympics" is its
investment in cleaner, or renewable, energy to generate power.
From 2000-2008, Beijing's
natural gas consumption will have risen seven-fold to 5 billion cubic meters.
The authorities plan to build on this move to lessen the city's reliance on
air-polluting coal and oil.
If all goes according
to plan, and so far it is, the forces of nature will be harnessed to enrich
Beijing's clean energy portfolio.
"About 500 kw of
solar power will be supplied at some Olympic venues during the Games,"
said Yu Xiaoxuan, vice-director at BOCOG's Venue Planning, Construction and
Environmental Activity Department.
In the Olympic Village,
a 6,000-square-meter solar energy-heating system, which will supply hot water
for the showers during the Games, will be installed in its roof garden. The
Olympic Center, most of the new venues for the Games and even the underground
parking lot will also rely on solar energy for some of their lighting.
China's National
Development and Reform Commission has forcast that the country will almost
double the amount of energy created by wind generation by 2008 to about 5 gigawatts,
partly to produce clean power for the Beijing Olympic Games.
"When Beijing bid
for the Games they said that 20 percent of the electricity that will be used to
power the Games will be wind-powered," said Greenpeace Beijing's Olympic
spokesman Lo Sze Ping.
"Right now they're
actually looking to see if this proportion can be increased, because the
wind-powered development in areas nearby Beijing has been much faster and
bigger than what they were planning in 2000."
China Energy
Conservation Investment Corp, a state-run company that promotes energy saving,
started building a wind farm with a capacity of 200 megawatts at Zhangbei in
North China's Hebei Province on April 29. The plant is about two hours' drive
from the capital city. After its operational start-up, most of the power will
be sent to support Beijing.
A pump that recycles
waste water will also be making its debut in the Olympics next year to furnish
the Olympic Village with a central cooling system rather than resorting to more
coal use.
"The waste water
is about 13C so it is much cooler than room temperature. Beijing has several
processing plants for this so there will be no problems in terms of
supply," said BOCOG's Yu Xiaoxuan.
"This is the biggest energy
conservation project in the Olympic Village," he added.
June 20 (Reuters) -- Investment
in renewable energies such as wind power and biofuels leapt to a record $100
billion in 2006 and worries about global warming are likely to sustain the
boom, a U.N. report said on Wednesday.
The flood of cash meant
that clean energies had shaken off a fringe image compared with fossil fuels
and seemed robust enough to survive any fall in high oil prices, according to a
46-page study by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP).
"Renewable
energies are no longer subject to the vagaries of rising and falling oil prices
-- they are becoming generating systems of choice for increasing numbers of
power companies, communities and countries," said Achim Steiner, head of
UNEP.
UNEP said investment
capital flowing into renewable energy and efficiency technologies rose 25
percent in 2006 to $100 billion from $80 billion in 2005. That total was likely
to leap to around $120 billion in 2007.
Growth "although
still volatile...is showing no sign of abating", the report said.
Steiner said the report
showed industries in rich countries were no longer dominant in renewable
energies such as wind, solar, biofuels, hydro, tidal or geothermal power.
Almost 10 percent of
the 2006 investments were in China, he said. India was the biggest net buyer of
companies abroad in 2006, led by takeovers by Indian wind turbine maker Suzlon,
which is planning a European listing.
The report said worries
about climate change, high oil prices averaging more than $60 a barrel last
year, efforts to break dependence on energy imports and government incentives
to shift away from fossil fuels had spurred investment.
WIND, BIOFUELS, SOLAR
The report, prepared by
UNEP with London-based New Energy Finance, said the wind sector won most
investment with 38 percent of the total, ahead of biofuels on 26 percent and
solar power on 16 percent.
Renewable energies are
a key to fighting global warming, widely blamed on greenhouse gases from
burning fossil fuels. A U.N. panel has projected that emissions will cause more
floods, droughts, disease and rising oceans.
Of the total of $100
billion, the report said $71 billion included initial public offerings and
spending on research and development of sustainable energy while mergers and
acquisitions added almost $30 billion.
UNEP noted that gains
by many renewable energy stocks had far outpaced rises in world stock markets
in recent months but toned down comparisons with Internet stocks which surged
in the late 1990s before the dot-com collapse in 2001.
Unlike dot-com firms,
the report said renewables were based more solidly on existing technology, that
many companies were generating strong revenues and had regulatory support.
"Betting on
companies that already have technologies is easier than betting on companies
that are developing the technologies of the future," Eric Usher, head of
UNEP's Energy Finance Unit in Paris, told Reuters.
The report said that
renewable energies accounted for 18 percent of investment in world power
generation, or $21.5 billion, compared with 2 percent of installed capacity.
The report also said
the International Energy Agency, which advises rich countries, seemed
conservative in forecasting that renewables would account for just 9 percent of
power generation by 2030. UNEP scenarios ranged up to 23 percent of the total.
June 30 (chinadaily) -- A
more stringent vehicle emission standard equivalent to the Euro III will begin
on Sunday, said China's environmental regulator. And the sale and licensing of
Euro II vehicles will expire a year later.
The State Environmental Protection
Administration (SEPA) said that as the world's second-largest vehicle market
and third-largest vehicle producer, China's rapidly growing car sales aren't
just creating traffic jams in major cities; they're also causing noticeable
deterioration of air quality in some large cities including the country's
capital, Beijing.
The new standards would cut vehicle
pollutants by 30 percent, said Zhao Yingmin, head of SEPA's department of
science, technology and standards. He also said an emission standard equivalent
to the Euro IV would take effect in 2010.
The new standard, equivalent to the Euro
III, was issued in China by SEPA in April 2005. More than 7,000 types of
vehicles have been able to meet the new standard, according to ministry
figures. And most automakers in China have the technology to produce Euro III
vehicles.
The national adoption of the Euro III
standard will help the country reduce its pollutants, like sulfur dioxide
(SO2). China planned to cut its SO2 emissions 2 percent year-on-year from 2006
to 2010, but failed to meet the target last year. SEPA reminded carmakers of
the timetable to eliminate high-emission vehicles.
June 26 (chinadaily) -- The
Beijing Municipal Legislative Affairs Office yesterday released draft rules on
the implementation of China's interim regulations on vehicle and vessel tax,
seeking public opinions.
According to the implementation rules, taxes
on private buses will be raised to a range between 360 yuan (US$47.25) and 600
yuan per year, double the previous level of 200-300 yuan.
Buses
used for public transit in urban and rural areas will be exempted from the tax,
according to the rules.
The taxes on trucks, including semi-trailers
and towing vehicles, and special vehicles will be calculated at 96 yuan
annually per ton of gross weight, while tri-wheeled and low-speed vehicles will
have to pay 60 yuan in tax each year per ton of gross weight.
For motorcycles, the tax levied will be 180
yuan per year. Ships have to pay tax of 3-6 yuan per ton of net tonnage on a
yearly basis.
The Beijing local taxation authorities said
the final implementation rules on new vehicle and ship tax will be announced in
September or October after the Beijing municipal government approves them.
Chinese insurance companies licensed to
offer compulsory third party vehicle insurance will collect vehicle and ship
tax for the tax authorities as of July 1 in accordance with the Interim
Regulations on Vehicle and Vessel Tax.
Vehicle
and vessel tax is raised in an effort to help implement the State's policies on
energy saving and environmental protection, said the State Administration of
Taxation.
Experts said rapidly increasing vehicles,
which discharge a lot of emissions, are putting heavy pressure on China's
energy supply and damaging the environment. They noted that the tax hike marks
the government's another attempt to regulate the national economy.
China began to enforce the Interim
Regulations on Vehicle and Vessel Tax on January 1 this year, replacing the
vehicle and ship license plate tax and vehicle and vessel use tax that had been
collected for decades with the new vehicle and vessel tax.
June 29 (chinadaily) -- Volkswagen
AG's joint venture with First Automotive Works Corp (FAW), one of the top
Sino-foreign car partnerships, expects its 2007 profits to climb by at least a
quarter, helped by brisk sales and cost-cutting efforts.
The venture, FAW Volkswagen, in the
northeastern city of Changchun, will have a "minimum" profit growth
of 25 percent this year from 2006, said Joachim Wedler, its vice-president in
charge of finance.
But Wedler didn't reveal how much the firm -
in which FAW holds a 60 percent stake and Volkswagen 40 percent - will earn
this year.
Weiming Soh, the venture's sales chief, said
it plans to sell more than 400,000 cars this year, up from 350,000 units last
year.
In the first five months, its retail sales jumped by 25.1 percent year-on-year to 173,218 units,
making it No 3 after General Motors' venture with SAIC Motor Corp and
Volkswagen's other partnership with SAIC.
FAW Volkswgen's June sales are expected to
exceed 40,000 units, Soh said.
The company's bold profit and sales
projections came amid blistering growth of China's vehicle market. Sales of all
China-made vehicles increased by 22 percent to 3.65 million units from January
to May, including 2.12 million passenger cars, according to industry data.
In the first four months, combined profits
of the top 16 Chinese auto groups reached 18.1 billion yuan, rocketing by 51.3
percent.
Wedler said FAW Volkswagen will use more
locally made engines and spare parts to cut costs.
"We are shooting for a very high localization rate to have more
financial power to beat competition," he said, without elaborating.
Competition
in China's passenger car market has been heating up with price incentives and
product launches. Carmakers offered some 50 price cuts in the first five months
of this year, according to data from FAW Volkswagen.
An Tiecheng, the venture's general manager,
said it plans to roll out at least two new models under the Volkswagen and Audi
marques annually in the next five years to woo increasingly sophisticated
buyers. Audi is the luxury car unit of Volkswagen.
The venture will launch a Volkswagen Magotan
large-sized sedan next month. Its current lineup includes Volkswagen's Jetta,
Bora, Golf, Sagitar and Caddy as well as Audi A6 and A4.
June 18 (shanghai daily) -- Shanghai
car tags has jumped to a new high at this month's auction, and some auto buyers
and industry experts are calling for changes to the way the city handles its
growing load of motor vehicles.
The average winning bid price for a license
tag was 47,711 yuan (US$6,278) at Saturday's monthly auction, the highest since
the monthly auction began in 2000.
The price was 2,219 yuan higher than the
previous record set in April 2004, and was up 2,858 yuan from May. The lowest
winning bid jumped 2,700 yuan from the previous month to 47,200 yuan, also a
record.
City government put 6,000 plates up for sale
this month, about the same amount as in May. The number of bidders dropped 12
percent to 8,983, but competition was unusually fierce as bids have been rising
monthly, said Yu Lili, a Chevrolet dealer.
"The price will probably top 50,000
yuan next month and could go further north and stabilize at 70,000 yuan to
80,000 yuan, equal to the price of a compact sedan," Yu said. "That
would scare away some of the mid-class buyers."
China's passenger car sales have increased
20 percent this year, outpacing the 13 percent growth in the car plate quota.
Shanghai is now home to around one million
vehicles. City government uses the tightly controlled monthly auctions to
reduce roadway crowding and exhaust emissions. It is the only city in China to
do so.
But many car owners have avoided the high
cost by registering their vehicles in nearby cities, where the plate fees
usually run from 4,000 yuan to 7,000 yuan. Drivers with out-of-town plates are
not allowed to use Shanghai's elevated roads during rush hours, however.
"The plate auction system is helping
Shanghai balance building an adequate road network and a rapidly expanding
vehicle population," said Sean Zhou, a traffic engineer at MVA Transport
Consultants Co Ltd, a transport planning firms.
"In addition to quickening its pace in
developing public transportation, Shanghai could also learn from other
metropolitan areas to handle the conflicts between people's eagerness to own
cars and city planning."
In big cities such as London and Stockholm,
private car owners pay congestion charges when they drive into downtown areas
or commercial centers in rush hours, which limit people's use of private cars
without discouraging vehicle purchases.
Despite growing complaints from car buyers,
city government says it has no present plans to increase auto licensing.
Wu Zhenguo, deputy director of the Shanghai
Development and Reform Commission, said during a government news conference in
May that "the auction is in line with the city's overall urban development
blueprint and its long-term policy that encourages people to take public
transport."
"Relaxing controls (on tags) could
damage the city's environment, lead to mounting pressure on the city's roads
and undermine the city's previous efforts," Wu said.
June 23 (chinadaily) -- German
carmaker BMW AG plans to source more spare parts in China to lower local
production costs in the world's third-biggest vehicle manufacturing country.
Alfred Rupp, president and CEO of BMW's car venture with Brilliance China
Auto, said on Friday that its local parts purchasing volume would reach 3.6
billion yuan this year, up from 2 billion yuan in 2006.
"Our long-term strategy is to steadily
accelerate local purchasing. This will not only actively respond to the
government's local content requirement, but also improve the (cost)
competitiveness of our products," Rupp said.
According to China's auto industry rules,
the value of locally purchased spare parts should account for at least 40
percent of the total value of a foreign-branded vehicle made in China.
Otherwise, import tariffs will be imposed.
But Rupp did not reveal the local content of
BMW's 3 and 5 Series sedans made at the company in the northeastern city of
Shenyang.
The venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd,
plans to have 100 suppliers in China by the end of this year, up from over 60
at present, he said.
"All BMW Brilliance's local suppliers
will have opportunities to enter BMW's global purchasing network," he
said.
Meanwhile, Rupp said the venture will
recruit an additional 20 authorized dealerships in China by the end of this
year to boost sales. It now has more than 70 dealerships.
The venture has an annual production
capacity of 41,000 units and sold 6,674 vehicles in the first quarter of this
year, surging 43 percent from a year ago. Sales of all China-made vehicles
climbed by 22.2 percent to 2.12 million units this year.
June 25 (xinhua) -- Beijing's
Capital International Airport will set up an emergency alert system for extreme
weather and security threats so as to ensure smooth transportation for millions
of visitors from home and abroad during next summer's Olympic Games.
A five-color grading system will be used, said Su Langen, senior
official with the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).
Green indicates normal conditions in which the airport can predict
flight times accurately and an absence of bad weather in cities where the Games
are being held.
Blue is used to indicate an upsurge in flights because of delays or
cancellations, and yellow signals weather difficulties such as thunderstorms.
Airplanes will be grounded or diverted under extreme weather orange
alert and airports will do their utmost to clear the skies under red alert for
terrorist attacks.
To improve transport efficiency, the administration will schedule
special flights to Olympic Games venues on the mainland -- Beijing, Tianjin,
Shenyang, Qingdao and Qinhuangdao.
Beijing is expecting nearly three million domestic and overseas visitors
during the 2008 Olympics, according to projections by the Beijing Olympic
Organizing Committee and Beijing Tourism Administration.
In May, Chinese armed police began Olympic security training to deal
with the possibility of terrorist attacks and the Beijing weather bureau has also
pledged to improve the accuracy of its weather forecasts for the Games.
June 12 (chinadaily) -- Zhang Aiqiong, a
businesswoman from Nanjing, has to commute one-and-a-half hours by car every
day between her downtown home and her office in suburban Jiangning District.
So, after countless trips, which left her feeling
bored and tired, she decided to advertise for some company.
"I am
looking for a young woman to commute the same route with me, and to share my
car. No fee is charged. The only thing I want from her is company along the
journey." Zhang posted on the bulletin board of an auto club.
Zhang is not the
first person to look for a car-sharer in this way. A lot of people are now
doing it; not for money, but simply for a little company while they travel, the
Nanjing-based website www.longhoo.net, said.
To provide a
communication platform for them, the auto club has set up a special column,
which so far has attracted more than 400 registered members.
People on the
bulletin board have agreed that car owners should not charge a fee for the free
ride, but, in return, the sharer is welcome to offer to pay for a meal or fill
the petrol tank from time to time.
Xia Jie, a
25-year-old from Wuhan in Central China, said he shared his car and was hoping
to make more friends.
"Due to my
heavy work schedule, I have few friends here. By sharing the car, I can expand
my social circle and get to know more people," he said.
Currently Xia has
three regular passengers, two of whom are female.
"Who knows,
maybe my future wife is among them," Xia said.
Many drivers and
passengers have developed very good relationships. Last week, more than 20
netizens had their first get-together in a park, where they enjoyed a barbecue
and boated on the lake.
Although
delighted with the column's success, a club administrator surnamed Lu said he
was worried it might end up being blocked by the local government.
An official from
the Nanjing transportation administration office said, according to relevant
regulations, if a passenger makes any kind of payment for the journey,
including buying fuel, a meal or even a pack of cigarettes, the owner could be
defined as being "involved in illegal transportation" and could face
punishment.
Also, Lu said, car
owners must be responsible for any damage done to the passenger in the event of
an accident.
Li Shujun, a
lawyer from Nanjing suggested both sides sign a contract specifying their
respective responsibilities so as to avoid disputes in the future.
Car sharing is
well developed in some foreign countries, with figures suggesting there are
about 200 such organizations in Europe with 125,000 members.
Many countries
have put forward regulations to encourage people to share their cars as it is
believed to be a good solution to relieving traffic congestion, saving
resources and easing pollution.
In Germany and
Singapore, car owners can be fined for allowing their vehicles to carry just
one person on a main road during the rush hour. In the United States, cars
carrying more than one passenger can use an "exclusive fast lane".
June 22 (chinadaily) -- China's
crude oil dependency will soon exceed 50 percent, said Dai Yande, deputy
director-general of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development
and Reform Commission. In his opinion, this won't have great impact on the
international oil price.
"China's
demand for oil is expanding steadily and it is an inevitable trend for oil
dependency to exceed 50 percent," said Dai, adding that the increased oil
imports may last for a long time due to China's rapidly growing economy.
In
May, China imported 12.97 million tons of crude oil, which was less than the
13.86 million tons in March, and 14.82 million tons in April. The country
exported 520,000 tons of oil last month, and the net imported amount of crude
oil in May was 12.45 million tons. China's crude oil dependency reached 48
percent in April.
From
January to May, China imported 67.43 million tons of crude oil, up 9.6 percent
year-on-year. Meanwhile, it exported 1.6 million tons, down 36.6 percent.
China's total oil consumption reached 320 million tons last year and around 150
million tons were from imports. Experts predict China's crude oil imports will
increase to over 160 million tons this year.
Growth
of domestic oil output can't meet rising demand. China became a net importer of
oil 10 years ago and became the world's second largest oil consumer in 2002
following the United States, Dai said.
It is
predicted that China's oil dependency will reach 50 percent by 2010 and around
60 percent by 2020, according to the Energy Development Report of China 2007
published by the Social Sciences Academic Press under the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences.
In
Dai's opinion, people shouldn't be fussy about where China gets its oil from,
despite its crude oil dependency reaching 60 percent to 70 percent.
"China's oil output is insufficient and it's not a bad thing to use
foreign resources to support China's economic development," he said.
"Furthermore,
there is no question that this will promote the development of the world's
economy, especially in oil producing countries," he added. "Oil
imports to the United States reached 60 percent a long time ago and most Japan's
oil depends on imports."
China
is accelerating its oil strategic reserve as crude oil imports continue to
climb. Key measures to optimize China's energy structure, reduce environmental
pollution and achieve a sustainable development should be the development of
new energy and renewable energy, said experts.
The
increased oil dependency leads to a focus on China's energy safety problem, Dai
said. The average annual growth rate of China's energy consumption approached
10 percent in recent years. So China must accelerate development of new and
renewable energy.
"The
country's policy will focus on new energy development this year," said
Dai. The Chinese government is taking many measures to speed up the development
of new energy and sustainable economy.
June 22 (chinadaily) -- China's
policy not to use basic food crops, especially corn, to make biofuel as a
substitute for petroleum is a "sound decision", a Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) official said yesterday.
"Such
a decision by such an important world player as China is likely to accelerate
the second-generation technology for production of ethanol fuel from non-food
crops - through conversion of biomass," Abdolreza Abbassian, Commodity
Analyst and Secretary of FAO's Intergovernmental Group for Grains, told China
Daily.
The
UN food body official's remarks came shortly after China imposed a moratorium
on projects making ethanol fuel from corn and other basic food crops. The
importance of corn in China's food economy has prompted the government to ask
companies to switch to non-basic food products such as cassava, sweet potato
and cellulose to make ethanol fuel.
"Food-based
ethanol fuel will not be the direction for China," said Xu Dingming,
vice-director of the Office of the National Energy Leading Group, at a seminar
on China's ethanol fuel development in Beijing on Saturday.
China
is promoting ethanol fuel to reduce its reliance on imported oil. But it
worries that the rising demand for raw materials for ethanol could push up food
prices and reduce the area of farmland growing food crops.
Despite
a bumper crop in China last year, corn prices have risen almost 30 percent over
the past nine months on the Dalian Commodities Exchange. The increase in corn prices
in turn pushed up the costs of fodder and meat, particularly pork.
The
global supply and demand situation for cereals in 2007-08 is expected to remain
tight and prices will be high, Abbassian said.
"As
long as petroleum prices remain as high as they are, and without any major
technological breakthrough in conversion of biomass, this trend is likely to
continue for some years to come," he said.
While
forecasts say cereal production across the world is likely to recover and then
climb to a record, world demand for cereals is also forecast to rise sharply,
Abbassian said. "This strong demand is partly driven by a rapid increase
in the use of corn for making ethanol fuel, most of which is in the US."
In
five years from now, almost a third of the US corn crop will be used to make
ethanol fuel to meet the Energy Department's target of 11.2 billion gallons by
2012, a report released by the USGovernment Accountability Office warned last
week.
"Using
more corn to produce fuel is likely to push up corn prices further, potentially
influencing livestock feed markets and meat prices," the report said.
The
US is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of corn. For this
reason, the US' corn export prices are considered the world's best price
indicator for coarse grains in general and for corn in particular.
According
to the US Department of Agriculture, about 86 million tons of corns could be
used to make ethanol fuel between 2007 and 2008.
"The
volume of domestic corn destined for ethanol will exceed the total corn exports
from the US," Abbassian said.
The
increase in the use of corn to make ethanol fuel is among the leading factors
that have pushed up its price in the international market, he said.
Since
the US uses more of its domestic corn to make ethanol fuel, the food and export
sectors are left to shoulder the burden of high prices, Abbassian said.
June
5 (xinhua) -- QINHUANGDAO, Hebei -- Chinese emergency services carried
out their largest ever exercise on Tuesday to tackle an oil spill in the Bohai
Sea to test their ability to protect the ocean environment.
The drill, which began at 9.30 a.m.,
involved a scenario in which a 10,000-ton oil tanker exploded and spilt 500
tons of oil.
Soon after the oil tanker Tianpeng
"exploded", a fireboat arrived to fight the fire and a helicopter
hovered above to spread chemicals to control oil spill, followed by more
vessels and another helicopter.
The "spill" comprised
fire-fighting foam that would cause no pollution to the sea.
The exercise ended at 11:00 a.m. after the
"spill" was cleared. Vice Minister of Communications Xu Zuyuan said
it was "successful".
"The exercise tempered our oil spill
response team, improved the government's ability in handling such accidents and
helped marine environment protection," Xu said.
A total of 500 people participated in the
exercise and 20 vessels and two aircraft were involved in the drill off the
coast of north China's port city of Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, in clear and
calm conditions.
A college student, one of 300 volunteers
cleaning the beach, said, "I am amazed by the quick response. It would be
great that all oil spills are handled so promptly."
Near the beach is a stadium in which
football matches will be held during the 2008 Olympic Games.
Liu Gongchen,
executive deputy director of the Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry
of Communications, said organizers chose June 5 for the drill as it is the
World Environment Day, in a bid to improve the awareness of marine environment
protection.
Oil exploitation and marine transportation
have developed rapidly in China, bringing increased risk of oil spills.
The exercise was held near the recently
discovered partly-offshore Nanpu block, which is estimated to have one billion
tons of reserves, held by the Jidong Oilfield of the China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC) in Caofeidian of Tangshan City, Hebei Province.
The discovery is expected to reduce the
country's reliance on oil imports, but many are concerned about possible
pollution of the Bohai Sea.
China experienced
2,635 oil spill accidents in its seas and along its coastal areas from 1973 to
2006, including 69 major accidents each involving at least 50 tons of oil and
with a total of 37,077 tons. On average, two such accidents took place per
year, with each spill involving 537 tons of oil.
The Bohai Bay, Yangtze River Estuary, Taiwan
Strait and Pearl River Estuary are four major Chinese sea areas at the greatest
risk of oil spills.
Chang Xuejun, vice general manager of Jidong
Oilfield Company, said, "Such exercises are necessary to ensure we do our
best to prevent environmental disasters."
The Bohai Sea covers 78,000 square
kilometers of sea that is almost enclosed by the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas.
It boasts rich fishery, sea salt and oil
resources, and has 26 cities and about 100 ports along its 3,000-km coastline.
However, experts have warned Bohai is "dying" due to heavy pollution.
June 15 (chinadaily) -- Construction
of the first Russia-China oil pipeline is going well and is expected to be
completed by next year, said experts from both countries.
The pipeline will initially supply China 10
million tons annually. It will gradually increase to 30 million tons a year.
The feasibility of three more gas pipelines
from Russia to China is also being discussed, said Li Guoyu, an expert with the
China National Petroleum Corporation.
The three routes are:
Irkutsk to Daqing, with a projected annual
gas capacity of 34 billion cu m.
Siberia
to Lunnan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, projected length 2,800 km and an
annual gas capacity 30 billion cu m.
Sakhalin to China, with annual gas capacity
of 15 billion cu m.
In 2005, Russian President Vladimir Putin
announced that his country would increase Russia's oil exports to Asia to 30
percent of all its oil exports by 2020.
Putin
also said that an oil pipeline, starting from the Taishet, Irkutsk, to
Nakhodka, Primorsky Krai, on the western bank of the Pacific Ocean, would be
constructed.
The
4,000-km-long pipeline would pass through Skovorodino, Amursk, which is only 70
km from the China-Russia border.
And
a sub-pipeline starting from Skovorodino would extend to Daqing, the most
important oil production base in China.
The
distance from Taishet to Skovorodino is 2,284 km, and Daqing is about 870 km
from Skovorodino.
"I
believe the Russian government will fulfil its commitment and finish the
(700-km-long) pipeline in due time," Li said.
He
said the 30 million tons of oil China will get from Russia would ease the
energy strain.
China
imported about 169 million tons of oil last year, 15 million tons were from
Russia.
Last
year, Russia produced 481 million tons of oil and 656.2 billion cu m of gas,
making it the top producer.
Peter
Ya Baklanov, director of the Pacific Geographical Institute of the Far Eastern
Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said Russia plans to build an oil
refinery at Kozmino Bay, near Nakhodka, the terminus of the oil pipeline.
The
plant has a processing capacity of 20 million tons of crude oil, and about half
will be sold to Japan, China and the Republic of Korea.
June 15 (chinadaily) -- China's
decision not to impose any restrictions on natural gas and LNG imports is
supposed to secure diversified gas imports and better meet local demand.
The move will not necessarily lead to an
import surge in the short term and it has nothing to do with the global price
hike, according to China's commerce watchdog and industry sources.
"At present, China has only set up one
liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal for long-term import contract.
We have only one LNG supplier (Australia) and only one importer. To make gas
importing easier, we decided to eliminate 'automatic import approval' for
natural gas from June 10 on. This has nothing to do with the international
market," China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) revealed exclusively to
China Daily yesterday.
The elimination of the "automatic
import approval" will not lead to the adoption of an import permission or
quota system to govern the trading of gas and LNG, and some Chinese media
simply misunderstood MOFCOM's statement late last month, the commerce watchdog
said.
China's natural
gas and LNG imports are small in terms of volume, especially compared to
developed countries such as Japan and South Korea. The commodities deserve
priority position for further development and application in China. Therefore,
gas and LNG imports should be given the green light, sources from China
National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), a major gas producer and importer,
told China Daily yesterday.
"The
national policy of supporting natural gas consumption and production is
consistent, because of concerns for environment protection and stable energy
supply," an expert with CNOOC said.
China's leading
oil producers, including PetroChina and CNOOC, are boosting gas output and
imports to meet demands. The National Development and Reform Commission, the
country's top economic planner, wants natural gas to account for 5.3 percent of
the energy consumption structure by 2010, up from 3 percent now.
Because of
soaring global oil prices and environmental concerns, more Chinese local buyers
are looking for overseas natural gas supplies. This means major Chinese gas
importers, such as CNOOC, often have to pay higher prices for overseas natural
gas and LNG, said Han Xiaoping, executive vice-president of Beijing Falcon
Pioneer Technology Co Ltd.
Facing the
potential competition from within China, CNOOC maintains its composure.
"Gas and LNG
importing is capital intensive and has to depend on a long industrial chain for
profit. Therefore, small companies cannot afford tapping the segment in the
short term, despite of the open market environment," said Liu Junshan, a
senior press officer with CNOOC.
CNOOC argued that
China's impact on global natural gas prices is limited.
"The price
hike of natural gas in the international market was mainly triggered by the
global oil price surge. It's a complicated issue that involves many factors. A
single company or country's behavior is not strong enough to stir up the whole
global market," another source from CNOOC told China Daily.
China is
presently a minor gas importer compared to developed industrial countries, Liu
added.
MOFCOM announced on its website it has eliminated
"automatic import approval" for the natural gas and LNG, effective
Sunday.
Shanghai Securities News reported MOFCOM planned to
introduce new controlling measures from Sunday on to regulate imports of
natural gas in order to protect major gas importers from intense domestic price
competition.
In an exclusive
interview with China Daily, the trade watchdog denied putting any restrictions
on gas importing.
According to
MOFCOM, gas imports to China will increase gradually on an annual basis. MOFCOM
will work with other ministries to trim import costs, stabilize import volume
and better meet domestic demand, the ministry said.
LNG imports more
than doubled to 301,960 tons in April from 119,241 tons in March, according to
China's customs data in May. In the first four months, purchases increased to
722,800 tons from 687,533 tons for the whole year of 2006, Bloomberg reported.
China's natural
gas output jumped 17 percent year-on-year in April to 5.35 billion cubic
meters, according to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics.
June 28 (chinadaily) -- The last two of the first
four strategic oil reserve bases in China, the world's second-biggest oil
consumer, are expected to kick off operations within a year, according to two
State-owned oil giants.
An official from
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, known as Sinopec Group, told China
Daily it would start to fill crude oil into a base in Huangdao of East China's
Shandong Province by the end of this year.
"We are
losing no time building the base in line with the State's requirements,"
said the official, who asked not to be named.
A source from
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), parent of Hong Kong- and New
York-listed PetroChina, said a base under construction in the northeastern port
city of Dalian will be filled with oil as early as the first half of 2008.
Both bases will
be able to stockpile more than 3 million tons of crude oil.
The first two bases, both located in East China's
Zhejiang Province, are already operational with a capacity of 5 million tons
each. They are operated by Sinopec Group and Sinochem, another Chinese energy
supplier.
The four bases are
not enough to ensure China's energy security if there is an interruption in
petroleum supplies, experts say.
By contrast, the
United States, the world's top oil user, has a strategic petroleum reserve of
94 million tons.
The Bush
administration announced in January it would more than double the reserve
within the next two decades.
China is planning
to build a second-phase strategic oil reserve of 28 million tons, according to
sources from China National Development and Reform Commission, the country's
top economic planner. But no time frame has been revealed.
Many local
authorities, including those from South China's Guangdong and Hainan provinces,
said earlier this year that they were discussing with the central government to
build new strategic oil reserve bases in their regions.
Xia Yishan,
director of the China Energy Strategy Research Center at China Institute of
International Studies, said: "We need a bigger strategic oil reserve for a
rainy day, but not as much as what the US has."
Xia said China
should have a strategic oil reserve equal to 15-20 percent of the country's
annual crude oil imports.
China's crude
imports have outpaced its domestic production in recent years in order to
satisfy strong demand boosted by fast economic growth.
The country
imported 67.4 million tons of crude in the first five months of this year,
jumping by 9.6 percent from a year ago, according to industry data.
However,
production at home grew by just 1.7 percent to 77.5 million tons.
Gong Jinshuang, a
senior researcher from Sinopec Group, forecast full-year imports to climb 10
percent from 145.2 million tons in 2006.
Oil imports are
widely forecast to grow rapidly over the next two decades to meet mounting
domestic demand, despite the milestone discovery of a 1-billion-ton oilfield in
North China's Bohai Bay, announced by CNPC at the beginning of last month.
June 29 (xinhua) -- China has granted oil products
wholesale licenses to Sino-overseas joint ventures for the first time,
according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).
The two firms are
Sinopec SenMei (Fujian) Petroleum Co., Ltd. and Fujian Refining &
Petrochemical Co., Ltd.
Sinopec holds a
55 percent stake in Sinopec SenMei and ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco hold 22.5
percent each.
Fujian
Petrochemical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Sinopec, holds a 50 percent stake in
Fujian Refining & Petrochemical and ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco hold 25
percent each.
Analysts said the
move would help foster a more competitive oil products wholesale market where
around two thirds of the oil products wholesalers are run by the nation's two
oil giants, namely the China National Petroleum Corporation and China
Petrochemical Corporation, better known as Sinopec.
Sinopec SenMei
(Fujian) Petroleum was also given a license for the oil products storage
business, the MOC said.
The two joint
ventures are the first fully integrated refining, petrochemicals and fuel
marketing projects with foreign participation in China, according to ExxonMobil.
The Fujian
Refining and Ethylene joint venture project will expand the existing refinery
capacity from four million tons to twelve million tons per year. It is expected
to start up in early 2009.
Sinopec SenMei
will manage and operate 750 gas filling stations and 11 oil tankers in
southeastern province of Fujian as of July 1.
The nation issued
such licenses to the first batch of eight State-owned and private companies
late last month since it opened the oil products wholesale market last December
in line with its commitments to the World Trade Organization.
A total of 2,515
companies in China now have oil products wholesale rights.
June 29
(chinadaily) -- China and the
EU yesterday launched a joint project to boost China's clean development
mechanism (CDM).
The EU will pour 2.8
million euros into the project, which targets EU-China joint climate change
objectives, said Nicholas Costello, first counselor of the Delegation of the
European Commission to China and Mongolia.
"It will
facilitate the implementation of the CDM, make it easier to exchange
information on CDM projects and encourage EU companies to engage in CDM
projects in China and hence to tackle climate change on a global scale,"
Costello said.
The EU-China
Facilitation Project, which will run until 2010, will support China's CDM
through research, capacity development, technical exchange and training
activities.
The CDM was set up
under the Kyoto protocol to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change to which China and the EU are parties.
CDM allows developed
countries to achieve part of their emission reduction commitments by investing
in emission-saving projects in developing countries and counting the reductions
achieved toward their own commitments to control greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.
China has approved more than 500 CDM
projects. Over 70 percent of the projects focus on clean and renewable energy,
14 percent on raising energy efficiency and the rest focus on the elimination
of HFC23, a heat-trapping gas 11,700 times stronger than carbon dioxide (CO2)
in terms of greenhouse effect, said Yang Hongwei, director of CDM Project
Management Center under the National Development and Reform Commission.
June 15
(chinadaily) -- China's top
science official yesterday sounded an upbeat note about achieving the country's
green goals - innovatively.
"China is
exploring a different way of controlling greenhouse gas (GHS) emissions. We
will not follow the Western countries' way of high emissions first and then
reduction," Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said.
China, the world's
second-biggest GHG emitter after the United States, released 5.6 billion tons
of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent in 2004, according to the national climate
change program.
Wan told a news
briefing organized by the State Council Information Office that the government
is working to turn energy-saving targets into goals for CO2 emissions.
"We are studying
techniques and methods for converting this (energy targets) into goals for
cutting carbon dioxide emissions," he said.
Under an ambitious
energy-saving blueprint, the country plans to reduce its energy consumption per
unit of gross domestic products (GDP) by 20 percent by 2010 from 2006.
To boost the
scientific and technological support for the drive to curb temperature rise,
the ministry yesterday released China's Scientific and Technological (S&T)
Actions on Climate Change.
The document focuses
on energy and the environment as key fields of S&T studies and gives
priority to global climate change and policy-making.
"S&T is one
of the basic and fundamental approaches to effectively address climate
change," Wan said.
China has spent 4.6
billion yuan ($600 million) since 2006 in the first batch of S&T projects
to combat global warming.
Wan said that the
technology studies focus on raising energy efficiency, developing renewable and
clean energy, exploring and burning coal in a clean way, carbon capture and
sequestration, absorbing carbons biologically and cutting GHG emissions through
improved farming modes.
The country will cut
carbon emissions per unit of GDP, or carbon intensity, by 40 percent in 2020
from 2000 and 80 percent in 2050 from 2000, according to the National Climate
Change Assessment Report released last year.
According to the
national climate change program, hydropower and coal bed methane utility will
make biggest contribution to emission cuts - by 500 million tons and 200
million tons of CO2 by 2010.
June 5
(chinadaily) -- China on Monday
pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions as it unveiled its first climate change
action plan but reiterated that it would not commit itself to quantified
reductions as it is "not fair" for a developing country.
Ma Kai, minister of
the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a news briefing
that it is "too early, too abrupt and too blunt" for the
international community to impose emission caps on China, whose historic and
per capita emissions are much lower than developed countries.
According to the
World Resource Institute, China's cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2)
from fossil fuel combustion accounted for only 9.33 percent of the world total
from 1950 to 2002, says the 62-page action plan.
International Energy
Agency statistics also show that in 2004, China's per capita CO2 emission from
fossil fuel combustion was 3.65 tons, or 87 percent of the world average, it
adds.
Ma said the foremost task for China is to
"develop the economy and eradicate poverty", and the international
society should respect its right to development.
"The
ramifications of limiting the development of developing countries would be even
more serious than those from climate change."
But he added that
China will share the responsibility of mitigating the effects of global warming
with developed countries, which are responsible for most of greenhouse gas
emissions.
The action plan was
unveiled two days before President Hu Jintao attends a summit of G8
industrialized nations in Germany which will focus on global warming.
The plan, co-drafted by 16 ministries, is
the first of its kind in developing countries, which are exempt from emission
caps till 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol.
It is also a result of China implementing
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The program sets
three major goals to be met by 2010:
Reduce energy
consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent.
Raise the proportion
of renewable energy in primary energy supply up to 10 percent from 7 percent.
Increase the forest
coverage rate to 20 percent from 18 percent.
Key measures to help
achieve the goals are also specified: Increase nuclear power use, promote clean
coal technology, and develop biofuel.
The program also
calls for international collaboration in technology transfer and capacity
building.
"China is in
urgent need of technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions," it says.
High-efficiency,
low-pollution coal-burning power generation, large hydropower generation units
and new-generation nuclear technologies are among those in great demand, it
says.
Ma said the government hopes developed
countries take a more practical stance to support developing countries in
technology transfer.
"We feel that
there's been lots of thunder but little rain, lots of talk but little
action," he said when asked if China was satisfied with technology
transfers.
Kishan Khoday,
assistant resident representative of the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) in China, commended the program for providing "a key channel"
for the Chinese government in coordinating action to address climate change.
Khoday, also a team leader of the energy and
environment program, added that the UNDP will launch a new project with the
NDRC in August to help provincial governments better implement the program
locally, starting with big cities.
June 9 (xinhua)
-- German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, whose country holds the rotating G8 presidency, issued a joint
statement on Friday with leaders from the five developing countries who
attended an outreach session in the G8 summit.
The statement said talks between the leaders
from the G8 leading industrialized nations and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and
South Africa mark "an important step towards an equal and enduring
partnership" for building the framework conditions of a globalized and
competitive world economy.
The leaders said they
are committed to cooperate in the following fields:
- Promoting Cross Border Investment
The leaders pledged to work together to
promote more favorable conditions for investment, both domestic and foreign,
with the aim of fostering economic growth and sustainable development. This may
also include the encouragement of responsible business conduct.
- Promoting Research and Innovation:
The leaders
recognized that strategies to encourage and support research and innovation are
key elements for future sustainable development of the economies.
- Fighting Climate Change:
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and to its objective
through both mitigation and adaptation in accordance with their common but
differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
- Energy:
The leaders confirmed their commitment to
promote energy efficiency, through cost-effective solutions, to advance the
effective use of fossil fuels, and to increase the use of cleaner and renewable
energy sources as an important step towards secure, stable and competitive
energy supplies for achieving sustainable development.
- Development, particularly in Africa:
The leaders reiterated their commitment to
the Millennium Development Goals, the eradication of poverty and sustainable
global development.
June 4 (xinhua)
-- The Chinese government has
reiterated its intention to meet strict energy efficiency and pollutant
reduction targets, which it failed last year, in an official work plan
published in Beijing Sunday.
The General Work Plan for Energy
Conservation and Pollutant Discharge Reduction shows that China will stick to
the original plan of energy saving as well as reducing major pollutant
discharges by 10 percent.
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 consumption fell by just 1.23
percent last year.
Electricity, steel, nonferrous metals,
construction materials, oil processing and chemicals, the six high
energy-consuming and highly polluting industries, which account for nearly 70
percent of energy consumption and sulfur dioxide discharges of the entire
industrial sector, grew by 20.6 percent in the first quarter of 2007, 6.6
percentage points higher than the same period a year earlier.
The plan criticized government departments
for their poor awareness of the importance of energy efficiency and pollutant
reduction.
China will reform the mechanism of
evaluating local governments and their leaders by including the implementation
of energy-saving and emission-reduction tasks into their performances, the plan
said, and it asked relevant departments to work out detailed measures for this
reform.
Together with Ministry of Finance, the State
Environmental Protection Administration and five other authorities, China's top
economic planner National Development and Reform Commission has kicked off a
campaign to ensure the elimination of high-energy consuming and heavy-polluting
industries.
The campaign, aimed at curbing excessive
growth of energy consuming and polluting industries, will run until the end of
June, focusing on the iron and steel, copper, alumina, cement, power and coking
sectors.
Monitors will investigate the local
governments' performance in implementing the central government's macro
controls on the energy consuming and polluting industries.
China will promote the use of renewable
energy resources, such as wind power, solar power, hydro power, methane and
terrestrial heat. The country will also establish medium- and long-term
outlines on fuel ethanol and bio ethanol, the plan said.
According to the plan, units, branches and
bodies of the central government will take the lead of using energy-saving
lights and 50 million similar lights will be in use nationwide by 2010.
Meanwhile, the plan
makes it compulsory for government departments to purchase highly efficient
energy-saving, water-saving and environmental-friendly products in governmental
procurement, such as conditioners, computers, printers and displays.
The state will
encourage and direct financial institutions to enhance credit support for
environment-protection and pollution-reduction projects. The government will
also offer preferential tax treatments for such projects.
China will also
reform pricing mechanism for resource products, such as refined oil, natural
gas and electricity, and restrict the export of high-energy consuming and
heavy-polluting products.
China will optimize
energy use in high-energy consuming industries, such as steel, non-ferrous
metal, petrochemical and cement production, realize energy-saving capacities of
50 million tons of standard coal in 2007 and 240 million tons by 2010.
The country will save
31.5 million tons of standard coal this year and 118 million tons by 2010, and
cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 400,000 tons in 2007 and by 2.4 million tons by
2010.
To meet the goals,
the government will accelerate the elimination of out-dated production
capacities and reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) by by 620,000 tons this year
and by 1.38 million tons by 2010.
To meet the goal, the
government has set a list of targets, including:
-- Solid fuel-burning
electricity generating capacity will be reduced by 10 million kilowatts this
year and 50 million kilowatts by 2010;
-- Iron ore
production capacity to lose by 30 million tons this year and 100 million tons
by 2010;
-- Steel production
to close 35 million tons of capacity this year and 55 million tons by 2010;
-- Electrolytic
aluminum production to close 100,000 tons of capacity this year and 650,000
tons by 2010;
-- Iron alloy
production capacity to lose 1.2 million tons this year and four million tons by
2010;
-- Calcium carbide
production capacity to lose 500,000 tons this year and two million tons by
2010;
-- Coke production
capacity of 10 million tons will close this year and 80 million tons by 2010;
-- Cement production
capacity to lose 50 million tons this year and 250 million tons by 2010;
-- Glass production
capacity of six million weight boxes to be closed this year and 30 million
weight boxes by 2010;
-- Papermaking
capacity of 2.3 million tons to be closed this year and 6.5 million tons by
2010.
-- Alcohol production
capacity to lose 400,000 tons this year and 1.6 million tons by 2010;
-- Monosodium
glutamate production capacity of 50,000 tons to be eliminated this year and
200,000 tons by 2010;
-- Citric acid
production to close 20,000 tons of capacity this year and 80,000 tons by 2010
The discharge of
sulfur dioxide will drop from 25.49 million tons in 2005 to 22.95 million tons
in 2010 while chemical oxygen demand (COD) should drop from 14.14 million tons
to 12.73 million tons, under the plan.
Desulfurizition
facilities will be incorporated in all new solid fuel-burning electricity
plants with total power-generation capacities of 188 million kilowatts and
established plants with capacities of 167 million kilowatts, cutting the
country's sulfur dioxide emissions by 5.9 million tons annually.
China has so far installed desulfurizition
facilities in solid fuel-burning electricity plants with total power-generation
capacities of 35 million kilowatts, eliminating 1.23 million tons of sulfur
dioxide emissions every year.
Daily urban sewage treatment capacity will
rise to 12 million tons this year 45 million tons by 2010 and the daily
utilization capacity of recycled water will reach one million tons this year
and 6.8 million tons by 2010.
Meanwhile, charges for
sulfur dioxide emissions will double from 0.63 yuan to 1.26 yuan per kilogram
in three years, while urban sewage treatment fees of no more than 0.8 yuan per
ton will be implemented and rubbish treatment fees will be raised.
The government will
ensure the urban sewage treatment rate will reach 70 percent, the comprehensive
use of industrial solid waste 60 percent, and water consumption per unit of
industrial net profit will drop by 30 percent.
The daily seawater
desalination capacity will increase by 900,000 cubic meters and the use of
water from mining shafts will reach 2.6 billion cubic meters by 2010; the
targets will be 70,000 cubic meters and 500 million cubic meters respectively
in 2007.
The plan requires departments and local
governments to prioritize the tasks and use economic, legal and administrative
methods to curb excessive growth of high-energy consuming and heavy-polluting
industries.
Meanwhile, efforts must be made to adjust
industrial structure, improve technology, expand spending and strengthen
monitoring.
June 9 (chinadaily) -- China's top
meteorological official has urged the international community to abide by the
principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" when
addressing climate change.
Zheng Guoguang, director of China Meteorological
Administration (CMA), made the comments on Friday to Xinhua News Agency.
The principle of "common but differentiated
responsibility" was established by the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol.
It means all countries and people have a common obligation to
protect the world's environment. However, due to each country's different
development stages and capabilities, so does the degree of their obligation.
"The developed countries should be blamed most for global
warming due to their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the past 200 years,"
Zheng said.
The UN benchmark report on climate change released by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February showed that 90 percent of
climate change could be attributed to the use of fossil fuels.
Carbon
dioxide (CO2) had been mostly released into the atmosphere by developed
countries for their industrialization, Zheng said, adding that developed
countries should do more to mitigate climate change.
The GHG emission per capita in OECD (Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development) countries is three times than that of the Chinese
people.
"Emissions from OECD countries are called 'luxury
emissions'," Zheng said.
"But China, which has tens of millions of people trying
to solve problems with basic living produces 'survival emissions'.
"So when addressing the responsibilities on curbing
global warming, China is not in the same categories as the developed
countries."
China, as one of the Annex II countries, has no obligation to
reduce GHG emissions, according to Kyoto Protocol.
June 27 (chinadaily) -- China plans
to significantly increase charges on the release of pollutants and effluents,
said Bi Jingquan, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform
Commission.
The move is to push companies to more actively clean up the
environment by imposing greater share of the financial burden, Bi said.
The discharge cost for sewerage will be at least double the
current level of 0.67 yuan per ton, while the charge on sulfur dioxide
emissions may also be doubled from the current 0.63 yuan per ton, Bi told a
forum held by the new China Center for Public Finance, at Peking University.
"There is a desperate need for the country to instill the
principle that those creating pollution must pay the costs," he said.
In its development plan for the 2006-10 period, China said it
would cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent,
or 4 percent each year. It would also cut the release of major pollutants by 10
percent during that period.
However, energy consumption fell by just 1.23 percent last
year.
"In the first half of this year, we have not met the set
goal (for energy consumption)," Bi said. "The release of major
pollutants has also not significantly declined."
The State Council, China's Cabinet, set up a special task
force this month to press on with the country's campaign to cut energy
consumption and pollutant release.
It has launched a series of energy-saving measures, including
a strict control of the indoor temperature of public buildings and restrictions
on decorative lighting for large buildings.
The Ministry of Construction said China has built 1.06 billion
square meters of energy-efficient buildings, but they account for only 7
percent of the total floor space of all the existing buildings in China's urban
areas.
Due to structural economic defects, many of China's industries
have been heavy polluters. To improve that scenario, China has promised to
build a society that is environmentally friendly and efficient in saving
energy.
Bi warned that the situation remains severe.
China's major rivers and one-third of its soil have been hit
by acid rain. Waste treatment is also not effective, Bi said.
China's waste treatment would cost much more if it were
burned, which will require more financial input from the firms, the official
said.
He revealed that the new discharge fees may be combined with
utility bills - companies that do not pay the fees will not be allowed to use
electricity and water supply, for example. He did not disclose when the new
rules might take effect.
Bi suggested that the current environmental clean-up regime
should be reformed by introducing more market mechanisms.
In some places, newly established waste burning facilities
cannot find adequate waste for treatment, because the local environmental
protection department encourages the waste to be transported to landfills that
belong to the government.
Bi also called for a strengthened collection of fees, which is
rather loose at present.
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