China
per-unit energy consumption falls 3.35% in
H1
August 2 (Xinhua) –BEIJING: China's energy consumption to produce a unit
of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 3.35 percent year on year in the first
half, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement
Sunday.
The decrease compared with 2.88 percent in the first half of last year.
The commission also said it expected the country's sulfur dioxide
emissions to fall 5 percent in the first half, and that the measurement of
chemical oxygen demand (COD) to be down 2 percent.
China
launched a nationwide campaign
to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse emissions in 2006. It vowed
to reduce energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan (1,470.6 US dollars) of GDP
by 20 percent and major pollutant emissions by 10 percent by 2010 from the 2005
levels.
Analysts said slower growth in industrial output, as result of a slowing
economy, helped lower the energy intensity. Energy consumption of the
industrial sector accounts for more than 70 percent of the country's total.
China
's economic growth has slowed
amid the global downturn, but it expanded 7.9 percent in the second quarter
after sinking to 6.1 percent in the first quarter.
The falling energy intensity is attributed to improved industrial
structure, according to the NDRC statement. It said about a third of energy
conserved in the first half was a result of a change in industrial structure.
The proportion of the tertiary industry in GDP was up 0.5 percentage
points while that of secondary industry down 0.8 percentage points.
Continued investment in energy conservation and environmental
protection, despite a fall in fiscal revenue, also played a role.
China
has earmarked 22.4 billion yuan
from the central budget for exclusive use in energy conservation and environmental
protection since the end of last year.
The government also continued to make efforts to curb energy-consuming
sectors. It closed small coal-fuelled power plants with a total generating
capacity of 54.07 million kilowatts from 2006 to the end of June this year.
The increase in output of energy-intensive industries declined 10.3
percentage points from a year earlier, according to the NDRC.
Energy intensity in large industries fell, with the steel industry down
8.43 percent, the coal industry 3.83 percent, nonferrous metals 19.59 percent
and power production 9.51 percent.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/02/content_11813538.htm )
China
plans for renewable energy
August 25 (China Daily) -
China
's top legislature yesterday
turned its attention to the creation of specific plans for more renewable
energy, such as nuclear, wind and solar power.
The move would not only create more energy that is desperately needed
in
China
,
but would also spur industry and business development, environmental experts
say.
A draft amendment to the renewable energy law was submitted for
first reading to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
(NPC), in a bid to remove the power transmission bottleneck that hinders
industrial development.
The draft requires related ministries to map out concrete plans for
meeting the country's medium- and long-term renewable energy targets, which
should be based on the overall national energy strategy and available
technologies.
"The country's power grid development plan is falling behind
that of the renewable energy, becoming a major block for reaching the country's
renewable energy target," said Wang Guangtao, director of the NPC's
environment and resource protection committee.
For instance, areas rich in wind power resources are mainly
concentrated in the remote northwest, northeast and southeast, where the power
transmission network is poorly constructed, Wang said.
But the scale of renewable energies is over-expanding in some areas
despite the lack of necessary infrastructure to collect the electricity.
More than 20 percent of the country's wind power machines did not
generate any electricity last year because the equipment was not yet connected
to the grid, according to officials from the China Wind Energy Association. The
draft law also stipulates the setting of a nationwide annual purchase quota for
renewable energy sources to protect the interests of renewable energy enterprises.
The renewable energy law orders power grid operators to purchase
resources from registered renewable energy producers within their domains. But
some grid companies failed to abide by the law.
"The electricity supply from renewable energies is not as stable
as the supply from traditional coal-fired power plants," said Yang Lei,
chairman of Vantage Point Venture Partners. "This makes power grid
companies reluctant to collect electricity from such sources."
Wind power, for example, is affected by sudden surges or falls in
electricity caused by unstable wind conditions. This leads to strong
fluctuations to power grids, and may even cause damage, Yang said.
The draft legislation will help and protect renewable energy
producers, but the challenges that power grid companies face have not yet been
tackled, Yang said. Technology breakthroughs are required to fix this problem,
Yang said.
The draft amendment also calls for
China
to set up a government fund
to support research and development of renewable energy-related technologies
and a smart power grid system.
Last month,
China
's
lawmakers revised some target dates, mandating at least 15 percent of its
energy capacity be generated from wind, solar and other renewable energy
sources by 2020.
Guangzhou
will highlight the development of solar energy, heat pump
technology, hydropower, wind power, biomass energy and alternative energy for
public communication in its new energy and renewable energy development plan,
released in late July.
Guangzhou
is the first
city in
China
to have issued such an energy development plan.
The city will encourage foreign investors in new energy power
generation projects while developing the equipment manufacturing industry for
the new energy sector, according to the
Guangdong
provincial development and reform commission.
The new energy plan for
Guangdong
province also will be released soon, hopefully within this year, said Li
Miaojuan, director of the provincial development and reform commission, at a
recent international energy forum in
Guangzhou
.
Zhan Lisheng contributed to
the story
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/25/content_8611790.htm )
August 12 (Xinahua) – A large-scale restructuring of the coal industry in
China
's major coal-producing
province
of
Shanxi
,
starting at the end of this month, will reduce accidents and improve efficiency
by shutting down small coal mines, officials said.
"The restructuring this time
is the largest after years of adjusting the coal industry's structure,"
Miao Huanli, planning section director of
Shanxi
provincial coal bureau, said
yesterday.
The merging and reorganization
plans submitted by all the 11 cities and districts of the province have been
approved, he said.
Officials plan to reduce the
number of
Shanxi
's
coal mines from 2,598 to 1,000 by 2010, shutting down unsafe and low-producing
small mines. The goal is to ensure more safety for miners, according to documents
outlining the restructuring program.
The remaining coal mines must
have an annual capacity of at least 3 million tons.
"After 70 percent of small
mines are taken over by large State-owned mines, the level of industrial
concentration will be improved, which will greatly reduce coal mine
accidents," said Li Lun, press and education director of the provincial
work safety bureau.
Bringing more order to the mining
market, as well as the full adoption of mechanical mining, will also improve
mining safety, he said.
"The program gives us an
opportunity to expand coal reserves and seek further development," said
Liu Yaqin, press officer of Taiyuan-based Shanxi Coking Coal Group, a local
coal giant with 80-million ton annual coal production capacity.
The group has planned to take
over about 200 small coal mines this year, she said.
Meanwhile, Wang Hongying, an
energy researcher with Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences, warned that to
achieve the goals of the program, local authorities have to coordinate
conflicts of interests among stakeholders.
"Authorities have to
mobilize the enthusiasm of stakeholders in order to achieve the program's
goals, as conflicts of interest are the biggest difficulty in the program's
implementation," he said.
Wang Zheng, a small coal mine
owner from Nanjiao district of Datong, echoed the expert.
"My mine has stopped
production for more than a year and will not resume production by this year due
to the restructuring program," he said.
Wang's mine and Shanxi Coal
Transportation and Sales Group have reached a framework agreement on relevant
merging issues, but the future of about 100 coal miners who worked in Wang's
mine is still uncertain, he said.
Some of the coal miners may get
jobs elsewhere, and some may lose their jobs, he said.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-08/12/content_8559608.htm )
August 18 (Xinhua) - Hiccups are developing in
China
's new energy industry, say
experts.
New energy has been a hot topic
in
China
for quite a few years. Some experts, however, suggest that improving
conventional energy efficiency carries more weight in developing a low carbon
economy.
Li Junfeng, deputy director of
the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform
Commission, said
China
's
new energy industry had become a high risk industry and there was far too much
competition in the sector.
"Considering new energy
industry accounts for less than 1 percent of
China
's gross domestic product, a
dozen companies would be enough, but now there are swarms of them," Li
said.
China
's demand for new energy
facilities was still low and nearly half of its output was for export, said Zhu
Dajian, director of Research Center of Sustainable Development and Governance,
Tongji
University
.
"If too many companies enter the industry and domestic demand fails to
increase, bubbles will soon appear."
Since the present global
financial downturn began in 2008, the once prosperous solar energy photovoltaic
generation industry has been experiencing a difficult time. The industry relies
heavily on the international market, with 98 percent of photovoltaic product
sold overseas in 2008. Shrinking overseas demand has forced companies to
suspend production or even register bankruptcy.
"It is more important to
improve the efficiency of conventional energy than to develop new energy at
this stage," said Zhu.
Coal accounts for 70 percent of
China
's energy
consumption. Zhu said the state of affairs would continue for some time. The
average efficiency rate of coal-fired power stations is only 35 percent but can
increase to 50 percent if more advanced technology is applied.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/18/content_8584451.htm )
August 31 (China Daily) –
ST LOUIS
:
China
's
emphasis on wind energy is creating a new source of green for many American companies,
as the country's wind capacity continues to advance with gale-force strength.
In recent years,
China
has blown past its own ambitious goals for
wind energy development, making it the fourth-largest wind power producer,
behind the
US
,
Germany
and
Spain
.
In 2007, the country's objective
was to have enough wind plants built to generate 5 gigawatts (GW) of energy by
2010. By the end of 2008, it had already achieved 12.2 GW, and revised
forecasts say that
China
could reach 150 GW by 2020.
"The rate at which
China
is
scaling its wind industry supply and demand is unprecedented on a global
level," said Caitlin Pollack, an analyst with Emerging Energy Research.
Wind energy-related products
include designs, turbines, nacelles (housings for a turbine's inner workings),
gearboxes, bearings and electrical equipment.
Since 2006, American
Superconductor, of
Devens
,
Massachusetts
, has become a major supplier
of both designs and electrical conduction components.
The company uses what it calls
the "Gillette" business model, selling Chinese companies the
"razor" (the design) with the stipulation that they also buy the
"blades" (the electrical parts).
The strategy is largely
responsible for the company's $73 million first-quarter profit, an increase of
85 percent over the same period in 2008, according to American Superconductor.
The company's major client in
this arena is a wind turbine maker called Sinovel, the largest such
manufacturer in
China
.
And with additional design orders
from Sinovel and new, similar agreements with four other companies, American
Superconductor expects its earnings to grow exponentially in the future.
Other
US
companies also have big plans based on
China
's continued wind energy push.
General Electric, which opened a
new wind turbine assembly plant in
Shenyang
in
2006, hopes to double its sales to
China
this year.
GE also has a joint venture with
China-based A-Power to produce gearboxes in A-Power's Chinese factory in 2010.
Canton, Ohio-based Timken
Bearings expects to make $30 million this year selling US-made turbine gearbox
bearings to Nanjing High Speed Gear Manufacturing Company.
In a joint venture with Xiangtan
Electric Manufacturing Company, Timken is also building a $38 million bearing
plant in
Hunan
Province
, which will begin operating next
year.
Joint ventures with manufacturing
facilities in
China
are excellent money-making strategies in this field for two reasons, according
to Ben Schuman, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities.
China
requires 70 percent of all wind energy
components to be built domestically, either by foreign or Chinese companies,
Schuman said.
Chinese wind energy component
buyers favor companies with Chinese owners, especially when the Chinese partner
has majority interest, he added.
"That makes you, in effect,
Chinese in the eyes of the decision-makers, which for the most part is the
government," Schuman said. "We've seen that in other industries like
automotive. You have Volkswagen and Shanghai Automotive having a joint venture,
and all of a sudden Volkswagen is one of the market share leaders in
China
."
Historically, European countries
have been - and still are - major suppliers of wind energy products to
China
.
While GE is the only
US
company making turbines in
China
, three European firms are doing so, and
European manufacturers SKF and Schaeffler are the chief suppliers of bearings
to
China
's
wind energy industry.
When American Superconductor
first sought to make inroads into the Chinese market, it took an "if you
can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach and purchased Austrian wind energy
design firm Windtec.
"The technology American
Superconductor sells in
China
is of European origin," said Schuman, who doesn't see the
US
ever overtaking
Europe
in market share.
According to several experts,
advances being made within
China
may also limit US chances there.
Dozens of Chinese manufacturers,
including Goldwind, Sinovel and Dongfang, are supplying most of
China
's wind
turbines, and the country is moving ahead in its bearings and transmissions
manufacturing.
American Superconductor
spokesperson Jason Fredette said many wind energy products may soon be produced
by firms with Chinese names and US backers. However, he is optimistic that
US-owned companies won't be left out.
"We fully expect
China
to
dominate in wind turbine production, but we still think there will be
opportunities for many years for Western companies to provide key technologies
and components," Fredette said.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bw/2009-08/31/content_8634371.htm )
August 5 (China Daily) - The idea is simple: replacing regular light
bulbs with energy-saving ones. If full implemented, the "Green Lights
Project" would help reduce
China
's
energy consumption by 8%, said Khalid Malik, UN Development Program's Resident
Coordinator in
China
.
"If you were to produce new energy for 8% of
China
's consumption, that is worth
tens of billions of dollars," Malik said in an exclusive interview with
China Daily website last Thursday.
The four-year project was initiated by the UNDP and the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC),
China
's
top economic planning body, on July 24 during a visit to
China
by UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon. It is expected to help
China
cut carbon dioxide emissions by 175 to 237 million tons in 10 years, according
to NDRC.
The program is part of a broader international effort to build a
consensus and momentum for the global Copenhagen Conference on climate change in
Denmark
,
which will be held at the end of the year.
During the Secretary General's visit, Chinese President Hu Jintao
assured Ban that "
China
wants to seal a deal in
Copenhagen
and will play an active and constructive role in the negotiations to achieve
this end".
In recent months
Beijing
has made significant efforts to develop alternative sources of energy and cut
emissions. These include increased subsidies for solar power as part of an
effort to increase alternative energy use to one-fifth of all energy consumed
nationally, as well as programs like the "Green Light Project"
"
China
is not only active in energy conservation, but..is now becoming a world leader
in wind energy, solar energy. So I think this is tremendous," Malik says.
"There's a lot of opportunities there."
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009undp/2009-08/05/content_8527660.htm )
Guangzhou
gov't to impose energy-saving plan
August 27 (CRI) -- City officials in
Guangzhou
,
southern
China
's
Guangdong
Province
, have prepared to impose a
city-wide energy-saving plan to help cut energy consumption, the Guangzhou
Daily reported on Wednesday.
The first of its kind in
China
, the energy-saving plan will demand
government buildings to limit their use of elevators to floors above the third
storey and ask releant authorities to reduce the use of public street lighting.
The plan specifies that the turning-on of streetlights should be
lowered to reasonable levels to ensure they do not compromise the safety of
vehicles and pedestrians. It also calls on businesses to turn off their neon
lights and signs to save electricity except during holidays and festivals.
The plan also notes that its first phase will focus on the theme
"an experience of energy shortage", which urges people not to drive
or use air-conditioning or electric lights for one day to help them realize the
importance of saving energy.
City officials are still hammering out the plan's final details, the
report said.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/10/content_8548057.htm )
August 13 (Xinhua) --
A Chinese environmental official Thursday urged hastening the national
elimination of high-emission vehicles to help curb urban air pollution.
“The
automobile emissions have become main sources of air pollution in Chinese large
and medium-sized cities," said Li Xinmin, an official with the Ministry of
Environmental Protection.
“High-emission
cars and trucks only make up 28 percent of all automobiles in
China
, but they are responsible for
75 percent of the pollutant emissions," Li said.
Automobiles which
fail to meet the National Emission Standard I are listed as high-emission
vehicles in
China
.
The Standard I,
equivalent to the Euro I standard, allows an average petrol sedan to emit a
maximum of 2.7 grams of carbon monoxide a kilometer among other exhausts,
whereas Standard IV requires less than 1 gram of carbon monoxide and 0.08 gram
of nitrogen oxide per kilometer.
China
introduced Standards I, II and III respectively in 2000, 2005, and 2007.
Standard IV is scheduled to be adopted nationwide in 2010.
The pollutant amount
discharged by a high-emission vehicle is 30 times as much as a Standard IV
automobile, according to Li.
"We encourage
local governments to increase financial support in eliminating high-emission
vehicles, especially in big cities like
Beijing
and
Shanghai
.
It's good for reducing air pollution and introducing more automobiles of low
pollution," Li said.
China
had more than 64 million automobiles by the end of 2008, among which 18 million
were high-emission vehicles.
The ministry has
built an online inquiry system for the public to check whether a certain
automobile belongs to the high-emission category, according to Li.
Urban air pollution
has been a growing concern for governments at all levels as the number of
automobiles rises in cities and towns all over the country, and big cities turn
to different ways to lower vehicle exhaust emissions.
During the Olympics
and Paralympics last year,
Beijing
limited the use of most vehicles through an odd-even license plate system. The
initiative took 45 percent of the cars off the roads and helped keep skies
clean.
In April, the city
implemented a new restriction, also based on license plates, which forces a
fifth of privately-owned vehicles off the roads each week day.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/13/content_11877958.htm )
August
14 (China Daily) -
China
will continue its policy of subsidizing farmers' purchase of automobiles in a
bid to spur vehicle sales, as part of the government's concerted efforts to
stimulate domestic demand, a government official said yesterday.
The
policy, put in place earlier this year, has proven to be successful and will be
extended, Li Yizhong, minister of industry and information technology, said at
a news conference in
Beijing
yesterday.
China
's vehicle sales posted a 63-percent year-on-year growth in July,
which is usually the worst period of the year for auto sales, according to
figures released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
The
country sold 1.09 million vehicles last month, the fifth consecutive month that
the number has exceeded the 1-million-unit mark.
"The
fundamental reason behind the dynamic performance is the series of stimulus
policies we doled out," Li said, pointing to other incentives.
The
government has cut in half the purchasing tax on passenger vehicles with
engines smaller than 1.6 liters, a policy that it said will last until the end
of this year. Li did not say whether the government would extend the policy.
The
government has also introduced policies under which customers can get subsidies
if they trade in their old vehicles for new ones.
"The
impressive double-digit auto sales growth against the backdrop of a worldwide
industry slump is largely attributed to our policy stimulus and shows they are
successful," Li said.
The
minister also said the government would push ahead aggressively with mergers
and acquisitions among the enterprises to improve industrial consolidation. He
said his ministry was working on guidance and restructuring details for 10
major industries, without going into specifics.
Li
said
China
's
industrial growth slump has been reversed and corporate profitability has
improved considerably.
Industrial
output rose 10.8 percent in July from a year earlier, after gaining 10.7
percent in June, the second time since September last year that output has seen
double-digit growth, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
"The
overall industry performance is heading in a good direction," Li said.
"The economy is turning better but it does not signal that the difficult
period is behind us."
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/14/content_8569513.htm )
China
efforts on clean energy cars
August 3 (CCTV) -- Sales
of China's imported vehicles reached
153,000
in
the first half of this year. And those with 3 liter engines
and below accounted for a significant portion. But sales of clean energy
vehicles were hampered by higher prices. The Ministry of Commerce says
China
is continuing to assess preferential policies for clean energy cars.
At
the Beijing Imported Car Exhibition this weekend, energy-saving and
environmentally-friendly cars exceeded 30 percent of the total cars on display.
The latest figures show
China
's
imports of low and medium-emission cars have gone up by over 38 percent during
the first half of the year. In contrast, imports of high emission cars went
down by nearly 13 percent year-on-year.
China
has adopted preferential
policies for low-emission cars.
Chen
Deming, Chinese Commerce Minister, said, "In the coming six months, we
will continue opening the market to foreign energy-saving cars and low-emission
cars. We are drafting favorable policies for new and hybrid energy cars with
low emissions. Currently, oil and electricity mix power technology is mature
enough but quite expensive. Relevant departments will go further on
preferential policies."
(http://www.china.org.cn/video/2009-08/03/content_18254162.htm )
August
24 (China Daily) -- Even as most nations grapple with the global economic downturn,
China
's
automotive market continues to dazzle.
Maintaining
its position as the leading light vehicle market in the world,
China
recorded
sales of 1.03 million light vehicles in July - defined as passenger cars and
light commercial vehicles less than 6 tons.
The
monthly figure is a 60 percent increase over the same period of 2008 and brings
the nation's year-to-date light vehicle sales growth to 27 percent. The rapid
expansion in July is partially explained by a decelerating growth rate in July
2008 - but mainly the market is just bubbling hot.
Strong
July sales pushed the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) beyond 14
million units, a gain of more than 10 percent over the pace recorded in June
and moved the year-to-date SAAR to 11.6 million units.
Vehicle
sales were equally strong in both passenger vehicles and light commercial
vehicles, as well as across most vehicle segments.
Sales
of passenger vehicles jumped by 61 percent to 702,000 units for the month,
while light commercial vehicles increased by 58 percent to 325,000 units.
Light
vehicles sales in July are historically weaker than other months of the year.
Soft
sales in past years often led to the most generous sales campaigns of the year
from manufacturers eager to meet their full-year sales targets.
Yet
few manufacturers offered incentives this July, and only the weakest companies
are worried about meeting their sales targets.
Tax
cuts and government subsidies provided the incentives that in past years came
from manufacturers.
Automakers
are facing capacity constraints as they work to keep up with blistering demand.
Several companies recently announced expansion plans, with Dongfeng Nissan,
Audi, Chang'an Automobile and Great Wall Motors all making moves to open new
plants, and SAIC-GM Wuling, Shanghai VW and BYD upgrading existing lines to
raise output.
Expanding
capacity suggests a growing confidence in
China
's auto market and the
underlying economic factors supporting the industry's growth.
Yet
that confidence is not shared by everyone.
Increasingly,
the sustainability of
China
's
economic recovery is under scrutiny. Loose credit terms from banks in the first
half of the year threaten a rise in non-performing loans and an overall
weakening of the financial system.
China
's export sector remains challenged and related foreign direct
investment is down significantly.
Conflicting
reports suggest that indeed some Chinese officials believe a tighter monetary
policy is required to maintain stability and quell the enthusiasm in property
and stock markets.
Looking
forward, the effect of the stimulus package is weakening, so light vehicle
demand in the second half of 2009 is expected to be slower than year-to-date
figures.
The
economy will likely face turbulent times, but we believe policymakers will continue
to draw on the considerable resources available to maintain the economic
recovery. But it's not a straight shot. There are risks.
Given
the momentum through July 2009 and the relatively lackluster figures of 2008,
we expect the growth rate for the full year of 2009 to reach a remarkable 25
percent for passenger cars, and 39 percent for light commercial vehicles.
While
the world debates its economic condition,
China
remains the largest and
fastest growing automotive market in the world.
Marvin
Zhu is a senior market analyst from JD Power Consulting (
Shanghai
) Co Ltd
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bw/2009-08/24/content_8605852.htm )
August
31 (China Daily) - CHANGCHUN, Jilin: Two leading automakers in China and the
United States Sunday announced a multibillion-yuan deal to manufacture
commercial vehicles.
FAW
Group Corp and US-based General Motors (GM) have teamed up to establish FAW-GM
Light Duty Commercial Vehicle Co Ltd.
The
50-50 venture is the first between the leading automakers and the first major
international investment by GM since it restructured as New GM after filing for
bankruptcy protection in the
US
two months ago.
The
joint commercial vehicle firm is based at FAW's headquarters in
Changchun
, capital of Northeast China's
Jilin
province, and has registered capital
of 1.2 billion yuan ($176 million) and total investment of 2 billion yuan.
The
company is focused on the production and sales of light-duty trucks and vans,
as well as research and development, exports and after-sales support.
Production
began Sunday as the venture includes facilities FAW uses for Harbin Light
Vehicle Co Ltd and Hongta Yunnan Automotive Manufacturing Co Ltd, said Nick
Reilly, GM's executive vice president and president of GM International
Operations.
Manufactured
in
Harbin
,
Heilongjiang
province, and
Qujing
,
Yunnan
province, existing and future products will be branded FAW Jiefang in
China
, leaving
room for the creation of GM derivatives in the near future.
Capacity
will reach 200,000 units per year, said Kevin Wale, president and managing
director of GM China.
"We
will first address the demand of Chinese consumers, then make the venture a
valuable player in the global market for high-quality, affordable products in
one of the industry's most robust segments, while complementing the portfolio
of products GM and FAW offer," said Reilly.
"There
is no other market in the world deserving our attention more than
China
. It sends
an important signal of GM's ongoing commitment to
China
.
"
China
occupies more than 15 percent of the light
truck market share in the world and it is expected to grow in the near future
as
China
's
economy rapidly develops."
Xu
Jianyi, president of FAW, said he hopes the venture will claim the biggest
market share in
China
's
light commercial vehicle segment before expansion overseas.
"Light
commercial vehicles will play a strategic role in
China
's urbanization and rural
development," he said. "Our win-win cooperation is a proactive step
in helping the Chinese government realize its plan of restructuring and further
developing the automotive industry, broadening the market share of local
self-owned brands."
According
to FAW executives, the companies have been in talks over the deal since January
2007 and received approval from the Chinese government in July.
FAW
already has partnerships with Volkswagen and
Toyota
in passenger car production, while GM has cooperated with
China
's SAIC Group on passenger car production
in
Shanghai
and light truck and minivan
manufacture in
Liuzhou
,
Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-08/31/content_8636007.htm )
August 18 (China Daily) -- Chinese battery
and vehicle maker BYD Co said it was bullish about sales of its F3DM plug-in
hybrid car, after regulators recommended the energy-efficient model as eligible
for government subsidies.
China
's Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology (MIIT) recently unveiled the list of a first batch of new-energy
vehicle models that have got regulatory approval for production and sale.
According to a statement on the MIIT
website, there were five new-energy vehicle models in the list - Nanjing
Iveco's electric commercial vehicle, Jianghuai Auto's electric engineering
vehicle, JMC's electric service vehicle, Zotye Auto's electric light minibus,
and BYD's plug-in hybrid sedan.
"Being the only sedan on the list, we
qualify for the highest subsidy level of as much as 50,000 yuan ($7316) per
unit. Hence, we are optimistic about the F3DM model's sales to individual
customers, which will start next month," said a BYD spokesperson.
China
's Ministry of Finance announced subsidy
plans for new-energy vehicle production and purchase early this year. For
new-energy vehicle makers who wished to avail of the subsidy, the vehicle model
had to be approved by the industry regulator for mass production.
The F3DM car, the first plug-in to be
mass-produced anywhere in the world, hit the market in December 2008.
The electric car can be charged through
charge stations or at home. The zero-emission model's electricity consumption
cost was only one-fourth that of gasoline driven cars of a similar size, BYD
said
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/18/content_8581540.htm )
August 26 (China
Daily) –Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co is ambitious to speed up its
global network expansion after stabilizing its foothold in the domestic market.
The Wuhu, Anhui-based
auto manufacturer is on track to add six assembly plants outside the mainland
this year, boosting its global production network to 15 countries and regions,
said Jin Yibo, a spokesman for Chery.
The six destinations
will include
Taiwan
and
Thailand
in Asia,
Syria
in Africa and
Venezuela
in
South America
, an unnamed executive at Chery told China
Daily. The executive did not disclose the other two locations.
"Construction of
the assembling facilities in
Taiwan
,
Syria
and
Thailand
have been finished, while the plant in
Venezuela
is still waiting for local government approval," the executive said.
Chery's A3 compact
car recently rolled off the production line in
Taiwan
, and the company will
officially launch the model in a few days on the island, the executive said.
Production also
started recently in
Thailand
on Chery's QQ mini-car, the source said.
The company will
bring more models to
Syria
for local production, including its Tiggo sports utility vehicle (SUV) and A3
compact, targeting African markets.
As the most
successful Chinese carmaker in the international market, Chery has introduced
its vehicles to more than 60 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, Africa and
South America
.
Last week, the
company officially announced the debut of its business operations in
Brazil
, with
plan to establish 55 dealerships across the country this year.
Luis Curi, president
of Chery's
Brazil
operation,
said that Chery hopes to sell as many as 2,500 Tiggo SUVs in
Brazil
by the
end of this year.
Chery spokesman Jin
told China Daily that the company will build an assembly plant in
Brazil
, the
world's ninth-largest auto market, in the next three years.
The China Association
of Automobile Manufacturers reported that in the first seven months of this
year, exports of China-made vehicles slumped 60.3 percent over a year ago to 164,800
units as the financial crisis shrank auto demand in markets outside
China
.
However, Chery still
retained its leading position among Chinese automakers with the export of
15,000 units.
Statistics show that
in the past three years, Chery contributed more than half of
China
's exports
of homegrown passenger cars.
Analysts said
domestic automakers have been smart to begin shifting their focus from product
exports to capital outflows, as overseas production might reduce costs, avoid
trade barriers and promote Chinese brands in the international market.
Last month,
China
's Chang'an Auto reported it would invest
more than $80 million in
South
Africa
to establish a production plant and a
financing company in the next five years.
JAC Motors also said
in July that it would establish a manufacturing base in
Brazil
.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-08/26/content_8616007.htm )
August 21 (China Dialogue)
-- On May 5, 2009,
United
States
president Barack Obama signed a presidential
directive on developing advanced biofuels. The
US
department of energy (DOE), department of
agriculture (DOA) and the environmental protection agency (EPA) then followed
suit with plans and measures to implement this directive. These moves –
described by some commentators as historic – have been watched closely.
Analysing the directive and the departmental plans that followed could inform
China
’s
own energy stimulus package and its energy policies.
The directive
supports advanced biofuels: cellulosic ethanol, green biodiesel and other new,
low-carbon biofuels – which are different from starch- or sugar-based ethanol
and not simple replacements for traditional liquid fuels. According to DOE
figures, traditional ethanol production provides only 26% more energy than is
required in its production, as opposed to 80% more for cellulosic ethanol.
Meanwhile, greenhouse-gas emissions reduction is between 10% and 20% for
traditional ethanol, but between 80% and 100% for cellulosic ethanol.
With the right
standards in place, the entire production process for cellulosic ethanol could
be made carbon neutral, since the energy crops consume carbon dioxide while
they are growing. Non-cellulosic ethanol can also provide heat during
production, making the process self-sufficient in terms of energy. Data from
the DOA show that planting biomass crops, such as willow and miscanthus – a common genus of
grass in
Asia
– on land that is not used for
traditional crops, can reduce soil erosion by 90%. Herbaceous crops also
increase the organic carbon content of poor soil, removing carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and mitigating climate change.
According to a 2005
survey from the DOA and DOE, the 1.3 billion tonnes of cellulosic biomass that
is produced by the
United
States
could replace 37% of that country’s
crude oil consumption, with no major impact on the agriculture and forestry
sectors.
In the same year, a
report from the energy bureau at the National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC),
China
’s top economic
planners, found that
China
could collect between 800 million and one billion tonnes of biomass from
regular agricultural and forestry activities: cutting back bushes, thinning
forests and pruning fruit trees, as well as waste from the lumber industry.
Aside from this,
China
has 460,000 square kilometres of land suitable for forestry, and a further
10,000 square kilometres that is unsuitable for agriculture – all of which
could be used to plant energy crops. By 2020,
China
would be able to reap an
annual estimated harvest of two billion tonnes of biomass. Using this to
produce advanced biofuels would not only replace a significant proportion of
crude oil consumption, but also slash carbon dioxide emissions and energy use
in the process of fuel manufacturing. However, the completion of such a huge
project would require cross-departmental cooperation from
China
’s energy bureau, ministry of
agriculture, ministry of environmental protection and forestry bureau.
The
US
plans from the DOA, DOE and EPA
all focus on commercialising mature or nearly-mature technologies. In 2007, the
DOE funded six cellulosic ethanol plants at a cost of US$385 million. New plans
will see a further US$480 million provided to between 10 and 20 pilot and
demonstration bio-refineries. In response to the financial crisis, US$175
million of follow-up funding will be given to at least two of the projects
funded in 2007, which brings government funding for these projects to 60% or
more of the total cost. The DOA, meanwhile, has been instructed to use the 2008 farm bill to provide loan
guarantees or funding for demonstration projects currently under construction.
China
already has the foundation it needs to commercialise cellulosic ethanol
production.
China
was previously a world leader in acid and enzyme hydrolysis. At the end of
2006, the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) built a pilot
cellulosic ethanol plant in
Heilongjiang
province, northeast
China
,
with annual production capacity of 500 tonnes. Over two years of operation, the
majority of working techniques were optimised. A feasibility study for a larger
plant producing 10,000 tonnes a year was completed and found that the
production costs would be 6,500 yuan (US$951) per tonne of ethanol. Taking into
account initial stage subsidies for corn ethanol of 1,800 yuan (US$263) per
tonne, the fuel would break even when the retail cost of petrol (excluding fuel
tax) is 4.10 yuan (US$0.60) per litre. However, the economic outlook – and
uncertainties about policies that favour cellulosic ethanol – caused COFCO to
push back the start of construction on the larger plant to 2011, with its
completion planned in 2012. Jilin Fuel Ethanol
Co.
made a similar decision.
New industries are
always risky; it is no surprise that businesses that need to turn a profit are
wary about this field. This is why the
US
government, despite the
financial crisis and the budget deficit, is providing such strong support to
demonstration projects. In
China
,
commercial biofuel production would receive a significant boost if the
government would provide half of the funding for the two projects mentioned
above – around 160 million yuan (US$23.4 million) – less than the maximum US
DOE funding for a single pilot project – and issue preferential policies as a
matter of urgency.
In accelerating the
development of biofuel energy,
China
must coordinate on a national level and concentrate on two aspects.
First, while commercialising mature technology as soon as possible,
China
should also strengthen basic research in key fields. The US DOE plans to invest
US$110 million (751.5 million yuan) in conversion technologies, including more
effective catalysts, microbes and feedstocks. A typical example of this type of
research is the partnership between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
and the Danish firms Genencor International and Novozymes to research
cellulosic enzymes such as the cellobiohydrolase family, which have reduced the
cost of enzymes to one twentieth of the cost in 2002, making acid enzyme
hydrolysis technology commercially viable. This new spending on catalysts will
do the same for thermo-chemical methods. Meanwhile, research on algae will push
forward a new generation of biofuels and help to realise a true green energy
revolution.
China
has a good foundation in biofuels research, but there is a lack of clear
direction and low-level research is being reduplicated. In particular, research
into commercialisation is weak. At the moment support is needed in proprietary
brand micro-organism preparations,such as cellulosic enzymes and
semi-cellulosic yeasts, catalysts for thermal decomposition and quality
large-scale feedstock crops. These would reduce the cost of biofuels and thus
increase their commercial viability.
Second, while
supporting commercial demonstration projects, industry need to coordinate
development of upstream production, such as large-scale sustainable feedstock,
and downstream issues, such as transport and sales infrastructure and the
optimisation of vehicles for use with E85 alcohol fuel
mixture. Legislation, such as standards for environmentally friendly vehicles
and low-carbon fuels, must be put in place. This will ensure the materials, the
market and the regulations that are needed to meet our targets.
China
can do more to support advanced biofuels. Policymakers see the
commercialisation of biofuels as an alternative source of energy, but they
should also be aware about the strategic significance of addressing climate
change and protecting the environment, land resources and water. Zhang Guobao,
deputy chair of the NDRC and director of the energy bureau, said that
China
should learn from painful experiences developing certain industries in the past.
If we do not adopt a higher-level view of the development of new energy
sources, in 10 years we may find we have been left behind again.
An ancient peasant
saying goes: “Waste a minute of the land’s time, and it will waste a year of
yours.” The opportunity will not wait for
China
; that is the message of
Obama’s new biofuels strategy.
Xu
Dingming is an adviser to the State Council. He has been deputy chair of the
office of the national energy leading group and director of the NDRC’s energy
bureau, where he oversaw
China
’s
first mid- to long-term energy plan. Since 2003, he has overseen mid- to
long-term national planning for electricity, coal, natural gas, renewable
energy and oil reserves.
Zhang
Jinyuan is president of Pacitec, Inc. He has worked as an engineer and general
manager for the
China
region
at Halliburton Energy Services, as well as deputy chief engineer at
Shanghai
Marine Geology
Bureau. He was previously a research student in electromechanical engineering
at the
University
of
Houston
,
Texas
.
(http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3226-Biofuels-learning-from-Obama )
August 26 (China
Daily) –The most authoritative energy organization just indicated that the end
of oil is much nearer than expected. The day we will see the end of the oil era
can best be described as an oil-bomb implosion -more powerful than anything
humanity has seen.
In a unique
initiative the International Energy Agency in
Paris
has conducted its first study to assess
the future oil supplies. The decision to survey supply - instead of just
demand, as in the past - reflects an increasing fear among world leaders that
oil reserves may dry up much sooner than expected.
Very soon the day
will come when humanity will see the end of oil. If the response is strategic
from Chinese companies and policymakers it could boost a shift from high-carbon
goods "made in China" to smart 21st century solutions "innovated
in China" that could help the world into a global circular economy.
At first thought
the end of cheap oil may look like a good thing for the environment because
much of the carbon emission that causes global warming comes from oil. The
problem is that most of the international companies responsible for providing
energy have shown they are not that interested in a sustainable future with
renewable energy and energy efficiency. When oil prices were close to $
150 a
barrel last year we could see
increased investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, but the real
investments were in more and dirtier fossil fuels.
Three areas
received a lot of attention and investments from the fossil fuel industry last
year: Tar sand, coal to liquid and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Tar sand is dirty
oil that requires a lot of energy to be extracted so it emits much more carbon
than traditional oil. Coal to liquid is a method of extracting liquid fuel from
coal, which again causes much higher emissions than traditional oil because it
is a very energy intensive process. And CCS is an "end-of-pipe"
technology where the problem is made marginally less destructive.
From an economic
and innovative perspective these investments make no sense. Their ways of
providing energy are dirtier and more expensive, and they don't drive
innovation or create any significant job opportunities compared with most other
options.
Energy efficient
buildings, or even carbon-positive buildings, new smart IT solutions that allow
teleworking and smart public transport system can be built around renewable
energy at the same or cheaper cost.
Why then big
investments were not made in smart and renewable energy solutions? The reason
is simple and important both. It is about business ideas and the will to keep
on using an infrastructure that we sooner or later must leave behind.
The world,
especially the industrial world, has such a strong addiction to oil that we
will probably see wars over oil and more investments in climate destructive
technologies if we don't start investing for a world beyond oil.
Since oil
consumption in
China
is
expected to increase by about 60 percent by 2020, according to studies
conducted by
Chinese
Academy
of Social
Sciences, it can turn the crisis into an opportunity.
The country has
the chance of shifting from a society built on oil and look at development
beyond the "age of oil". Its focus should shift from increased oil
exploration and more fossil technologies toward new smart technologies that
also can be exported.
Smart public
transport, teleworking and smart buildings can become the three pillars of an
oil-free future for
China
and the rest of the world. But for that to happen we need new initiatives.
First and most
important is to ensure that companies engaged in extracting, refining and
supplying fossil fuel are not in charge of the development agenda. Many western
governments have such companies as their main advisors on climate policy.
It's natural that
these companies would want to protect their business model and sell as much
energy as possible instead of helping people get the service they need in the
most climate-efficient way. The companies want to protect the investments in
the infrastructure they have built, too. That means they would use more fuel
for their refineries, pipelines and power stations.
It is almost
impossible for them to give up the use of fossil fuel both as a raw material
and finished product because their knowledge and innovative power is almost
totally limited to fossil solutions.
Second, no
company should be supported or given permission to operate unless it
demonstrates a plan for a fossil-free future by 2020. This would prepare
society for the day oil prices shoot out of the roof or the existing
distribution system collapses.
Third,
China
can lead the way in making other oil producing countries invest all the revenue
earned by their companies after oil prices cross $
70 a
barrel in non-fossil-fuel solutions, with a
strong focus on energy efficiency and system solutions.
It doesn't make
any sense to allow companies to make record profits from our dependence on oil
and use it to make us more wretched slaves of fossil fuel.
Fourth,
China
can take up the global challenge of building oil-free cities employing the best
tools and practices from around the world, and then sharing the experience with
other countries.
The end of oil
can lead to harmonious innovation or more aggressive investments in fossil
fuel. The development road
China
chooses - sustainable or destructive - will not only shape the 21st century's
industrial development, but also humanity's future.
The author Dennis Pamlin is adviser to various companies, governments
and NGOs.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/26/content_8619200.htm )
August
10 (China Daily) - On the eastern coast of
China
, the country's oil companies
are building or already operating a series of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
projects.
With
an investment totaling billions of yuan, they are improving the energy mix of
the country, which now relies on coal for 70 percent of its energy.
The
latest among these projects is the Zhejiang LNG receiving terminal developed by
China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC).
The
country's third-largest oil company announced on July 8 that the project has
been approved by the central government.
The
project is CNOOC's fourth LNG terminal in the country. The first phase of the
project, costing about 7 billion yuan and able to receive 3 million tons of LNG
per year, is scheduled to be operational in 2012.
Currently,
CNOOC is operating two LNG projects in
Fujian
and
Guangdong
.
It is building its third LNG project in
Shanghai
.
The
company aims to have 50 million tons per year of LNG receiving capacity by
2020, Zhou Shouwei, deputy general manager of CNOOC, said in July.
The
target would be nearly eight times the total capacity of the first phase of two
LNG terminals that CNOOC has brought on line since 2006.
CNOOC's
ongoing expansion of its LNG facilities is in line with
China
's efforts to increase the use
of natural gas to reduce its dependence on coal, which causes heavy pollution,
analysts said.
Other
domestic oil companies have also paid more attention to developing LNG
projects.
China
National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's largest oil and gas producer, is
now building LNG terminals in
Liaoning
and
Jiangsu
provinces.
In
addition to building LNG terminals along the coast, domestic oil companies are
also speeding up construction of inland natural gas pipelines.
CNPC
last year started building the country's second west-east gas pipeline, the
largest of its kind in the world. The project included one trunk line and eight
sub-lines with a total length of
9,102
km
.
The
project, which is to cost 142.2 billion yuan, will cross 14 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities.
It
will carry 30 million cu m of natural gas every year from Central Asia and
Xinjiang to eastern and southern areas including
Shanghai
and
Guangdong
.
The
pipeline will greatly boost natural gas consumption in
China
.
Once
it comes into operation in 2011,
China
will raise the ratio of
natural gas in its total primary energy consumption by 1 to 2 percentage
points, said Wu Hong, an executive with CNPC.
Using
natural gas from the project, as opposed to coal, could reduce carbon dioxide
emissions by 130 million tons a year and sulfur dioxide emissions by 1.44
million tons a year, Wu said.
CNPC
completed
China
's
first west-east gas transmission pipeline in 2004.
The
4,000-km project crosses 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities,
linking Xinjiang's gas-rich
Tarim
Basin
to
Shanghai
.
The
line has a designed capacity of 12 billion cu m a year and provides natural gas
to more than 200 million people in
China
.
Oil
and gas pipelines are safer, more economical and more convenient than other
transportation methods, said Han Xiaoping, a veteran analyst in
Beijing
.
"
China
will see booming development in the sector in the next few years," Han
said.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/10/content_8548057.htm )
August
7 (China Daily) -- Boosted by a new oil pricing system that links domestic fuel
prices more closely with international prices this year, China's two major oil
companies are expected to see much better business performances in the first
half compared with the same period last year, said analysts.
The
two oil companies, PetroChina and Sinopec, will see "robust growth"
in profits when they publish their interim reports later this month, said Lin
Boqiang, director of the
China
Center
for Energy Economics Research at
Xiamen
University
.
The
more market-oriented domestic fuel price could help oil companies post better
profits in the first six months, he said. "As domestic gasoline and diesel
prices are now more linked with international rates, PetroChina and Sinopec can
pass on rising costs more to end users," he said.
The
big gap between State-capped fuel prices and global crude prices has long been
a headache for domestic oil companies. In the first half of last year when
global crude price was high, domestic refiners incurred great losses because
they were not allowed pass the costs on to consumers.
For
instance, Sinopec, which is
Asia
's largest
refiner, said it lost 46 billion yuan in the first half of 2008 when global
crude price was high. The company made a profit of 5.7 billion yuan in the
first half of 2007.
But
in line with this year's oil pricing system reform, Sinopec would see more than
100 percent growth in profits in the first half, and the company's refining
business would also see solid growth in profits, said Liu Gu, an analyst with
Guotai Jun'an Securities in Shenzhen.
PetroChina,
the country's biggest oil and gas producer, but with less refining business
than Sinopec domestically, also said in an earlier statement that its refining
profit "increased to a record" in the first half after the government
revised the fuel pricing system.
PetroChina's
refining subsidiaries achieved a "remarkable performance" in the
first half even as processing volumes and operating rates were cut by the
financial crisis, said the statement.
China
adopted a new oil pricing system this year under which domestic oil prices
would be adjusted when the moving average of a basket of international crude
(Brent,
Dubai
and Cinta) changes more than 4 percent over a period of 22 working days.
Under
this mechanism
China
raised domestic oil prices three times and cut the price twice this year. The
latest adjustment was on July 29, when the government cut gasoline and diesel
prices by 220 yuan per ton, or 3 percent, to reflect the drop in international
crude prices.
However,
some industry insiders said that the mechanism should be further improved
because the current system does not reflect the change in global crude prices
very well.
"I
feel that the fuel price is still very high, and I don't think it reflects the
change in global crude prices well," said a
Beijing
taxi driver surnamed Li yesterday.
Previous page 1 2 Next Page
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-08/07/content_8538852.htm )
China
's first large coal-to-gas project under
construction
August 30 (Xinhua) – CHIFENG --
Construction of China's first large coal-to-gas project started in northern
China
Sunday to ensure natural gas supply to
Beijing
and promote clean
energy use.
Located in Chifeng
city of the coal-rich Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, the project is
designed to transmit four billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Chinese
capital annually through a 381-kilometer-pipeline when the project is completed
in 2012, according to the China Datang Corporation, the builder of the project.
Prior to that, it is
expected to supply 1.34 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2010, and 2.68
cubic meters in 2011.
Beijing
needs seven to eight billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. The demand
is growing by 20 percent every year.
The new project could
solve the deficiency of natural gas supply to Beijing and reduce the city's
dependence on limited gas sources and transmission lines to ensure the
capital's energy security, said Qin Jianming, deputy general manager of the
Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd.
Wu Guihui, chief
engineer of the National Energy Administration under the National development
and Reform Commission, said the coal-based clean energy project will massively
reduce emission of pollutants, help facilitate energy development restructuring
and improve
Beijing
's
air quality.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/31/content_11968584.htm )
August 12 (China Daily) - China National
Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's largest oil and gas producer, will speed
up overseas acquisitions in regions such as Africa and South America this year,
in a bid to boost
China
's
quest for energy security.
Currently, the company is in talks with
foreign partners for several deals, said a company executive yesterday, who
asked not to be named.
"The relatively low prices of overseas
assets this year have offered us unprecedented opportunities," he said,
without elaborating.
Dow Jones reported yesterday that CNPC and
China
's third
largest oil company CNOOC Ltd have proposed paying at least $17 billion for all
of Spanish oil and gas producer Repsol YPF SA's stake in its Argentine unit YPF
SA.
The Chinese side discussed their offer with
Repsol executives in a two-and-a-half-hour evening meeting on July
30 in
Europe
,
Dow Jones reported. The deal could be the biggest overseas investment by
China
.
Both the CNPC and CNOOC spokespersons
yesterday declined to comment on the deal.
Repsol has several times postponed a public
offering of a 20-percent stake in YPF due to adverse market conditions -- an
indication that the Spanish oil firm doesn't plan to divest the YPF stake on
the cheap.
Zhang Guobao, vice-chairman of the National
Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body,
said last month that CNPC was holding talks with Repsol.
CNPC President Jiang Jiemin said earlier
that the company would boost cooperation with oil companies in resources-rich
countries such as
Kazakhstan
,
Venezuela
and
Qatar
this
year.
Overseas mergers and acquisitions will be a
"key strategic development target for the company", said Jiang.
The financial crisis has presented CNPC with
a rare strategic opportunity to take advantage of low commodity prices to
expand reserves, company Vice-president Zhou Jiping said earlier.
Analysts said that domestic oil companies'
quickened pace in overseas development was in line with
China
's
increasing oil imports. According to a recent report by the
Chinese
Academy
of Social Sciences (CASS), 64.5 percent of the country's oil consumption was
likely to be met by imports in 2020.
The gap between domestic consumption and
production is the main cause for the increase in imports. CASS statistics
showed that
China
's
oil production would see gradual decline after 2020.
Analysts said
China
should further diversify its
oil importing sources to ensure sustainable supplies. At present the Middle
East,
Africa
and Asia-Pacific are the three
main regions for Chinese oil imports.
In another development, a joint $3.3-billion
acquisition of a Kazakh private upstream company by CNPC and its Kazakh partner
has been delayed.
The acquisition of MangistauMunaiGas, part
of a $10-billion loan-for-oil deal agreed this year, was due to be completed in
July. But Kazakh state oil company, KazMunaiGas, said it had yet to be
finalized, Reuters reported.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-08/12/content_8557761.htm )
August 29 (China
Daily) -- PetroChina Co, the world's most valuable company, said first-half
profit fell 7.2 percent after crude oil prices dropped as the global economic
slowdown curbed demand for fuels.
Net income
declined to 50.5 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) from a restated 54.4 billion yuan
a year earlier, the Beijing-based producer said in a statement yesterday.
That's higher than the median estimate of 49.9 billion yuan in a Bloomberg News
survey of seven analysts. Sales reached 415.3 billion yuan.
Crude averaged 54
percent lower than a year earlier as the recession cut consumption in the
US
and
Europe
.
Earnings may improve in the second half as oil prices recover and PetroChina
boosts investments in refining.
"
China
's fuel
demand is improving and we forecast a much better second half," said Yin
Xiaodong, a senior oil analyst with Beijing-based CITIC Securities Co, which
has a "buy" rating on the stock. "The revised oil-product
pricing mechanism gives PetroChina a guaranteed refining margin if global crude
prices stay at a reasonable level."
PetroChina, which
overtook Exxon Mobil Corp as the world's biggest company by market value in
May, fell 0.2 percent to HK$8.81 before the result announcement. The shares,
which have climbed about 30 percent this year, have lagged behind the 49
percent increase in China Petroleum & Chemical Corp,
Asia
's
biggest refiner, and CNOOC Ltd's 43 percent gain.
China Petroleum,
as Sinopec is known, posted a fourfold surge in first-half profit after the
government increased State-set gasoline and diesel prices and demand improved.
Net income at CNOOC,
China
's
biggest offshore oil producer, exceeded analysts' estimates as oil prices
rebounded.
Eleven out of 25
analysts rate PetroChina stock a "buy", compared with 17 out of 30
for CNOOC. Twenty-one out of 27 analysts recommended buying Sinopec shares.
Oil futures in
New York
rose to $
72 a
barrel from a low of $
33.55 a
barrel on Feb 12 on speculation
the global economy is recovering and fuel consumption may rise. They remain
about 50 percent below the record $147.27 reached in July 2008.
China
's
economic growth accelerated to 7.9 percent in the second quarter from a 6.1
percent pace in the first three months that was the slowest in almost a decade.
PetroChina's
refineries accounted for about 38 percent of
China
's processing capacity as of
the end of 2006, according to data from its website.
Operating profit
from its refining division reached 17.19 billion yuan under the new fuel
pricing system introduced in December, PetroChina said.
Operating profit
from its exploration and production division, accounting for 60 percent of
PetroChina's assets, was 37.64 billion yuan in the first half.
PetroChina plans
to make its refining business "a major profit contributor", President
Zhou Jiping said in March. Spending on refining this year will rise 36 percent
while expenditure on exploration and production will be cut by 15 percent, the
company said then. Revenue from oil processing made up 74 percent of total
sales in 2008.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/29/content_8631422.htm )
August 18 (China Daily) --
China
's carbon emissions output
could peak around 2030 if the government continues to be serious about
"strengthened measures" to improve energy efficiency and if it
accelerates exploration of renewable energy, a panel of experts says.
In 2050 China Energy and C02 Emissions
Report, the panel from the National Development and Reform Commission and the
Development Research Center of the State Council, says that with the right policies,
emissions growth could slow after 2020, with a peak around 2030.
This is the first time a Chinese think-tank
has officially announced when it thinks
China
's carbon emissions will peak.
The international community has closely
watched the country's carbon emissions curve because
China
and the
US
are the top two carbon emissions countries in the world.
The panel has advised
China
to invest significantly in
low-carbon technology research and development, saying the strategy of
developing such technology is "a stone killing two birds".
"Only by using advanced low-carbon
technologies can China's greenhouse gas emissions peak around 2030; otherwise,
the peak will be delayed and we don't want to see the latter scenario,"
said Jiang Kejun, a leading economist of the panel.
If the peak happens around 2030, the huge
investment in low-carbon technologies could keep
China
's
economy growing at a fast pace and make
China
a global leader in
cutting-edge technologies.
"I think
China
will become a major supplier
of nuclear, wind and hydropower technologies and electricity transmission by
2030," Jiang told China Daily yesterday. "And that should be a
strategic goal for the Chinese government to pursue."
If
China
can achieve these goals, by
2050, its carbon emissions from fossil fuel "could fall to the same
emissions levels as in 2005 or even lower", the report said.
The panel told China Daily earlier that the
government should pump an average of 1 trillion yuan ($146.5 billion) into
low-carbon technology development each year until 2050.
"The money would be mainly used to
introduce technologies that would raise the energy efficiency of end-users in
industry, construction and transportation," said Bai Quan, another expert
of the panel.
Jiang said the government has been "on
the right track" in making policy decisions to develop low-carbon
technologies as new economic growth engines while countries worldwide are
working on a plan by October to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to
expire in 2012.
Reuters contributed to the story
Last week, the State Council required that
all provincial and local governments consider climate change initiatives in
their economic and social development policies.
In early June, Premier Wen Jiabao affirmed
that
China
would put in place carbon emissions reduction targets in national development
programs.
China
,
thus, would assess its economic performance by how much less carbon it would
emit per unit of GDP growth.
Experts believe the decision has major policy
implications.
They said that once action is taken,
China
would accelerate the pace of restructuring its energy mix and economic
structure, and seek a "green recovery path" out of a worsening
financial crisis.
"These are vital decisions and pledges.
The implications will largely go beyond
China
's stated commitment to fight
global warming," He Jiankun, deputy head of the State Council's Expert
Panel on Climate Change Policy, told China Daily.
He said
China
might consider a reduction in
carbon emissions per unit of GDP as early as the start of the 12th Five-Year
Plan (2011-15), and that it would decide the career path of bureaucrats by
their performance in carbon reduction.
If that were the case,
China
would enter a new era in
terms of climate change policy compared with its 20-percent energy-saving
target for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-08/18/content_8580512.htm )
August 27 (Xinhua) –
China
's top legislature approved Thursday a
resolution on climate change, ahead of an international conference in December
in
Copenhagen
,
Denmark
.
The resolution to "actively deal with
climate change" was endorsed by lawmakers at the closing meeting of a
four-day session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's
Congress (NPC), the top legislature.
It will accelerate the country's attempts to
tackle the pressing challenge of global warming and signals a proactive role
for
China
in negotiating possible solutions to curtailing emissions.
Top legislator Wu Bangguo said the resolution
was an "important achievement" and a significant measure taken by the
top legislature to deal with the global challenge.
Wu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee,
said the resolution praised the government work on climate change, emphasized
the importance of the issue, clarified guidelines, basic policies, measures as
well as
China
's
stance.
The resolution says: "With a spirit of
being highly responsible for the survival and long-term development of mankind,
China
will continue constructively participating in international conferences and
negotiations on climate change, and advance comprehensive, effective and
sustained implementation of the international convention and its
protocol."
It says
China
"as a developing
country" will firmly "maintain the right to development," and
opposes "any form of trade protectionism disguised as tackling climate
change."
Developed nations should "take the lead
in quantifying their reductions of emissions" and honor their commitments
to "support developing countries with funds and technology
transfers," it says.
"Since the Industrial Revolution, the
activities of mankind, especially economic activities of developed nations
during their industrialization process, have been a major cause of climate
change," the resolution says.
It says cooperative international efforts,
for example, between governments and legislative bodies, should be promoted.
This would strengthen multilateral exchanges and negotiations and enhance
mutual understanding.
The resolution says China will adhere to
"the basic framework" set up in the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed by more than 150 countries in 1992, and the
Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997 by the majority of the international community
to set binding targets for developed countries to reduce CO2 emissions, and the
principles of UNFCCC-endorsed "common but differentiated responsibilities"
as well as "sustainable development."
It says the country must commit to energy
saving and emissions reductions by promoting energy-efficient technology and
products, exploiting renewable and clean energy, developing a recycling economy
and further advancing afforestation and forestry carbon sequestration.
"We must improve monitoring and early
warning systems and prepare ourselves well against extreme weather and climate
disasters," it says.
The resolution says
China
should
make carbon reduction a new source of economic growth, and change its economic
development model to maximize efficiency, lower energy consumption and minimize
carbon discharges.
It says efforts should be made to improve
laws on environmental protection and climate change, such as the Energy Conservation
Law, Renewable Energy Law, Circular Economy Promotion Law, Cleaner Production
Promotion Law, Forest Law and Grassland Law.
The resolution says the NPC Standing
Committee should strengthen supervision of enforcement of these laws to better
deal with global warming.
Xie Zhenhua, the country's top representative
in international climate change negotiations, told lawmakers on Monday that
China would "do its best with utmost sincerity" to push for the
success of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, which is
to be attended by more than 190 nations having signed the UNFCCC, and is
expected to negotiate a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/27/content_11953722.htm )
August 31 (China Daily) -
China
's
Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation and Ministry of
Environmental Protection have been jointly working on the introduction of an
environmental tax.
The media reported last week that the new tax
plan could be implemented as early as before the end of this year.
The Chinese government has placed
environmental protection at the center of its policies to guide the world's
third-largest economy.
China
and the
United
States
are the top two carbon emissions
countries in the world.
With the right policies,
China
's emissions growth could slow after 2020,
with a peak around 2030, according to a panel of experts from the National
Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, and the
Development
Research
Center
of the State Council.
Some analysts said an environmental tax is a
necessary economic tool to realize this target. An environmental tax would be
more scientific and efficient than pollution emission fees that are currently
levied on enterprises, they said.
But others said the introduction of the tax
would become a new burden on companies that are already struggling with the
global economic downturn.
Critics also said that
China
has
already adopted taxes such as the fuel tax to protect the environment, and that
a new environmental tax is unnecessary.
Analysts and netizens expressed their views
to China Economy Weekly and Sina.com
Jia Kang, director of the Research Institute
for Fiscal Science at the Ministry of Finance:
"If
China
wants to realize sustainable
growth, an environmental tax would be an inevitable tool.
China
already
has the foundation, in terms of both economic growth and taxation policies, for
introducing an environmental tax. I believe a carbon tax would be the first to
be adopted."
Ma Zhong, director of the
School
of
Environment
and National Resources at
Renmin
University
of
China
:
"A carbon tax mainly targets CO2 emissions.
It will increase the cost for using fuels that are high in CO2 emissions. It
will force enterprises and public entities to improve their fuel efficiency and
help slow down the global warming process."
Yang Zhaofei, director of the policies and
regulations department at the Ministry of Environmental Protection:
"We now face a very important technical
problem. We have to accurately calculate how much impact the new tax rate would
have on the economy, product prices and the lives of ordinary people. We also
need to be careful to prevent the environmental tax from becoming a heavy blow
to the healthy growth of companies."
Netizen from
Guangdong
:
"Who will pay the environmental taxes?
As ordinary people, we are already paying fuel taxes used to protect the
environment. Will the government continue to levy or cancel fuel taxes? That is
a question."
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/31/content_8637587.htm )
August 13 (China Daily) - Chinese officials
and researchers said yesterday they were "deeply disappointed" by the
lower-than-expected greenhouse emission cuts the industrialized countries have
pledged at the on-going
Bonn
talks.
They said the proposal by the rich nations
forebodes a "gloomy future" for a new climate change deal scheduled
to be reached in December in
Copenhagen
.
The industrialized countries proposed to cut
greenhouse gas emissions by between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020
under a new UN climate pact.
About 1,000 negotiators are meeting in Bonn
this week to discuss the new proposal, which falls short of cuts of between 25
and 40 percent outlined by a UN panel of scientists to avert the worst of
global warming such as heat waves, floods and rising sea levels.
China
has
asked developed countries as a whole to commit to at least a 40 percent
emission cut during 2012-20 period.
"The new proposal by the industrialized
countries is not enough for sure," said Li Liyan, a climate change
official with the National Development and Reform Commission, a cabinet
department partly responsible for designing policies on global warming.
She said whether the international community
can reach a "positive deal" in December to replace the current Kyoto
Protocol which expires in 2012 heavily depends on whether the rich countries
are willing to commit to deeper emission cuts.
Overall emissions by the 39 industrialized
nations, based on the existing plans, would fall to the equivalent of between
10.71 and 9.86 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2020 from 12.53 billion tons
in 1990.
The data excludes the
United States
, the top greenhouse gas emitter
after
China
,
which is outside the current Kyoto Protocol obliging all other industrialized
nations to cut emissions by an average of at least 5 percent below 1990 levels
by 2008-12.
Hu Tao, a visiting professor on environment
from Renmin University of China, said the 15-21 percent cut proposal is far
below what the developing countries including
China
had expected.
"I am quite pessimistic about what deal
the international community would achieve in
Copenhagen
," said Hu.
He criticized the industrialized countries
for a lack of "stronger commitment" to save the planet. "They
(the rich nations) are too selfish. They just want to press emerging countries
such as
China
and
India
to take
more responsibility," said Hu.
The industrialized nations have sought to
include big greenhouse emitters in the developing world, notably
China
and
India
, in any treaty commitments.
The head of the
US
delegation in
Bonn
,
Jonathan Pershing told BBC said that having those two countries included was
"absolutely part of the deal."
"We can't solve this (problem) without
them; you need them all and they all have to move immediately."
But
US
climate change envoy Todd Stern, who was visiting
Beijing
,
told China Daily recently the
US
is not pursuing a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions from
China
.
"We don't expect
China
to take a national cap at this
stage," Stern said, adding that what
China
had already done was
"very impressive", citing the 20 percent energy efficiency target the
country had set for the current five-year plan (2006-10).
Lin Boqiang, director of the
China
Center
for Energy Economics Research at
Xiamen
University
, said "the goal of
15-21 percent doesn't make much sense if the biggest emitter the
United States
is excluded."
He urged the developed countries to offer
financial and technological aid to developing countries such as
China
and
India
to cut emissions. "That
is the way to bring them into the deal," said Lin.
WWF said that the industrialized countries
that want to keep the temperature rise to within
2
C
above the level of pre-industrial times must commit to emission
cuts of 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels to back up their vision with real
action.
Zhou Dadi, an expert with the NDRC's Energy
Research Institute, also said the commitment of 15-21 percent cut goal is very
low.
"This shows that the developed countries
are not living up to the world's expectation," he said.
Reuters contributed to the story
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-08/13/content_8563213.htm )
August 24 (Xinhua) - BEIJING:
As a participant in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and
the Kyoto Protocol, China on Monday vowed "utmost sincerity" in
pushing for the success of climate talks in December in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Xie Zhenhua, Vice Minister of the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), made the remarks in a report
delivered to the 10th session of the 11th National People's Congress Standing
Committee.
Passed in 1992, the UNFCCC laid the principle
of "common but differentiated responsibilities" for developed and
developing nations.
The principle requires developed countries to
provide funding and technology to developing nations. The latter are required
to "take active measures" to adapt to and ease climate change while
developing economically and alleviating poverty.
The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, set
quantified emission reduction targets for developed countries from 2008 to
2012.
The
Copenhagen
conference will focus on setting the next targets of emission reduction after
the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
It will also settle the further
implementation of the Bali Road Map reached at the UN Climate Change Conference
in December
2007 in
Bali
,
Indonesia
.
In the road map, participants agreed that
negotiations on the implementation of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol should
be carried out separately and an angreement should be reached in
Copenhagen
.
It clearly states that every UNFCCC
participating party should be obliged to take responsibility for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, including the
United States
, which refused to
sign the Kyoto Protocol.
The road map also stresses the importance of
international cooperation, funding and technology transfers in tackling climate
change problems.
The right of economic development for
developing nations should be ensured, according to the road map.
Besides taking part in international
agreements,
China
also
issued its own plans to fight climate change, including the
China
's
National Climate Change Program adopted in June 2007.
In the program, the government said it would
restructure the country's energy consumption and reduce the use of fossil fuels
as much as possible.
By 2010,
China
should lower its energy
consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent over the figures of 2005 and increase
the proportion of renewable energy to 10 percent of its total energy use,
according to the program.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-08/24/content_8610069.htm )
China
urged to cut CO2 with CCS technology
August 10 (Agencies) -- The huge costs
required to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by China's vast coal-fired
power sector is a price worth paying to cut greenhouse gases to reasonable
levels, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology
is seen by many as the only way forward in a country still heavily dependent on
burning coal to meet its energy needs.
But scientists say it will actually require
more energy consumption, not less.
This additional energy consumption includes
the power required to drive the CCS facilities, as well to as transport and
store the captured carbon.
However, this "energy penalty" is
nothing compared to the environmental costs of doing nothing to curb emissions,
Chu
told Reuters.
"Is 10 percent or 20 percent too big an
energy penalty? Not really, considering the real costs (of current practices)
are actually considerably higher,"
Chu
said.
He said even if the energy penalty amounted
to 30 percent, it was still modest compared to the costs of spewing out not
just CO2, but also nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide, which cause acid rain and
damage air, water and forests.
"So a 20 percent energy penalty is quite
modest. And the technology will improve," he said.
Chu said the
United
States
is planning to work closely with
China
on developing carbon capture technology
through the new
US-China
Joint
Clean
Energy
Research
Center
, which was established during
Chu's visit to
China
at the end of July.
China
currently has a CCS demonstration project operating in suburban
Beijing
and run by state
power giant Huaneng Group. Another is expected to go into operation later this
year in
Shanghai
.
China
's biggest coal firm, Shenhua, is also building what is described as
the country's first commercial CCS project as part of its new coal liquefaction
plant in Erdos,
Inner Mongolia
.
Costing the earth
According to studies from the International
Energy Agency (IEA), each carbon capture facility is likely to cost "a
billion euros" and will need strong government backing to succeed.
"It is not possible commercially because
it is too expensive," Nobuo Tanaka, secretary-general of the IEA, told
Reuters during a visit to
China
last month.
With negotiations on a new global climate
change compact set to conclude in the Danish capital of
Copenhagen
at the end of this year, many
experts say more effort should be made to promote carbon capture technology as
part of a new deal.
Up to now, concerns about safety and
technological reliability have prevented CCS from receiving additional funding
through the United Nations' clean development mechanism, or CDM.
The CDM allows developed countries to invest
in environmentally sound but economically marginal projects in the developing
world in exchange for UN-issued carbon credits, which can then be sold on the
market or used to fulfill mandatory emission cuts.
Improvement
A decline in
China
's energy intensity, or the
amount of energy it uses to produce each unit of national income, picked up
pace in the first half of 2009, the country's top economic planner said at the
start of this month.
The country used 3.35 percent less energy to
generate each dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) in the six months through
June 2009 than a year earlier, the National Development and Reform Commission
said in a statement on its website.
China
has
set a goal of cutting energy intensity by 20 percent by 2010.
Its efforts appear to be gathering steam
after an unsteady start, and in 2008 energy intensity fell nearly 5 percent.
In the first half of this year it was also
down in several key sectors, the commission said. Power was down 9.51 percent,
oil and petrochemicals were down 8.21 percent and steel was down 8.43 percent.
Climate role
In recent years the efficiency drive has also
been promoted by China as a key part of a slate of measures to curb growth in
greenhouse emissions, as it comes under pressure as the highest annual emitter
of the gasses that cause global warming.
It will be in the spotlight this December
when the world tries to settle a global framework for tackling climate change
at the United Nations-led talks in
Copenhagen
The government says that its emissions per
capita and over the course of history are lower than those of rich nations that
went through long, dirty industrialization.
China
wants technology and financing help from developed countries to help it achieve
cleaner growth, arguing that it should not have to sacrifice economic progress
when it is still trying to lift millions out of poverty.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/10/content_8548117.htm )
August 6 (China Daily) -- Tianping Auto
Insurance Co (TPAIC), a Shanghai-based insurance company, yesterday purchased
8,026 tons of carbon credits generated from a public green commuting campaign
carried out during last year's Beijing Olympics, sealing the first such
domestic deal in
China
's
burgeoning voluntary carbon trading market.
The carbon credits, put on auction at the
China Beijing Environment Exchange (CBEX) since December last year, were
purchased at around $5 per ton, and the total spending amounted to around
277,600 yuan, according to Hu Wu, chairman of TPAIC.
"This will help TPAIC to offset all its
carbon emissions from daily operations between 2004 and 2008, making us the
first carbon-neutral company in
China
,"
Hu said.
During last year's Green Commuting Campaign,
initiated by the US-based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and China
Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO), 81,670 car users in
Beijing
voluntarily opted for public transportation between July 20 and September 20,
when
Beijing
was hosting the summer Olympic Games.
This public campaign created 8,895 tons of
carbon emission reduction credits, as calculated and verified by the
Transportation Research Institute at
Tsinghua
University
.
Mei Dewen, general manager of CBEX, said
TPAIC offered the highest price among companies that were bidding for the
carbon credits.
The transaction used the verified emission
reductions (VERs) price of the Chicago Climate Exchange as a reference, as
there was no clear pricing mechanism for such trade in
China
before, according to Zhang Jianyu, EDF's
China
program
manager.
Buying VERs allows companies or individuals
to offset their carbon footprints.
Zhang said the money earned from this
transaction would be donated to the Green Commuting Fund, operated under CANGO,
to support future voluntary actions in
Shanghai
,
the host city of 2010 World Expo.
Ma Aimin, a division director of the climate
change department under the National Development and Reform Commission, said
this deal was "a good tryout" in using market-based mechanisms to
reduce carbon emissions.
"The country will continue in its
efforts to combat climate change during the 12th five-year plan by setting a
national carbon intensity target," Ma told China Daily, adding that the
NDRC was currently carrying out pilot projects to foster a domestic carbon
market.
China
, as
a non-annex I country under the Kyoto Protocol agreement has been the largest
carbon credit provider under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) since 2007.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, 38 industrialized
nations are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of
5.2 percent below the 1990 levels, between 2008 and 2012.
By using the CDM projects, these countries
can meet their emission reduction targets at a much lower cost by investing in
clean energy projects in developing countries such as
China
.
But China lacks the legal and structural
framework for carbon emission trading, as well as a sound financial service
system for such trade, said Mei Dewen from CBEX, the country's first environmental
equity trade institution. This has resulted in
China
's weak bargaining power in
the international carbon market, he said.
"Carbon financing tools, services,
institutions and products still don't exist in
China
," said Mei, "but
they are very important factors for the country to build up a low-carbon
industrial chain."
Since CBEX started operating last August, a
total of 30 million tons of CO2 credits have been traded at the exchange.
(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-08/06/content_8531095.htm )
