China focuses on green growth

Last October, China conducted a fourth census on businesses operating in the field of environmental protection to gather information to help policy makers devise measures to achieve the item. low carbon growth targets.

As the highest emission country in the world, China is currently facing domestic and international pressures with a requirement to reduce emissions. Meanwhile, the country must also try to maintain its annual economic growth of 7%, despite the global economic crisis, rising prices and the risk of social unrest.

China's most recent 5-year plan is ambitious with a commitment to reduce energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of GDP) to 16% and reduce CO ₂ emissions (CO ₂ emissions). discharge per unit of GDP) to 17% before 2015 compared to 2010 figures.

The plan also set a target for companies operating in the field of environmental protection and energy savings with an annual growth rate of 15% and a total output of 720 billion USD by 2015 (equivalent to 2 % Of GDP).

China currently applies 3 strategies to reach its goal.

The first is to restructure the industry by reducing the share of heavy industry and other industries that generate more CO ₂ while increasing the share of the service sector.

Second, replace high-carbon energy sources (such as coal) with clean energy sources such as hydropower, nuclear energy, solar energy and wind power.

And finally, to encourage technical innovations to transition to energy efficient technologies.

In addition, according to the Asia Foundation's recommendation (AF), based on a study of small and medium enterprises in Jiangmen, Guangdong, China should focus on small and medium enterprises to achieve the item. low carbon growth targets. The reason is that small and medium enterprises still account for a large proportion in the contribution of industrial revenue sources of localities, but still use traditional production methods, mainly based on labor and resources, and This business is still difficult to meet energy saving goals.

The goals of the world's largest emitting country are directed towards a low-carbon economy despite the ambition but is extremely necessary in the context of global warming.