China Spends Big on Low Carbon Energy & Water Conservation

“China is going to leave all of us in the dust,” Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “They’re committed to winning the green economy race”. Last year, China boosted spending on low-carbon energy by 30% to US$51.1 billion, ‘‘by far the largest figure for any country’’. And China’s central government spent 365.5 billion yuan (US$55.38 billion) on water conservancy during the past five years, more than double the amount spent during the 2001-2005 period.

By Alex Morales in Bloomberg (28 January 2011):

China is pushing ahead of the U.S. and Europe in developing clean- and low-carbon energy as a way to spur the nation’s economy, the diplomat leading United Nations Climate talks said.

“China is going to leave all of us in the dust,” Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said at a panel discussion today at the World Economic Forum today in Davos, Switzerland. “They’re committed to winning the green economy race.

China last year boosted spending on low-carbon energy by 30 percent to $51.1 billion, ‘‘by far the largest figure for any country,’’ Bloomberg New Energy Finance said Jan. 11. Global accounting firm Ernst & Young said in September that China for the first time overtook the U.S. in its quarterly index of the most attractive countries for renewable energy projects.

‘‘You can leapfrog — you don’t have to follow the model of the north,’’ Figueres said. ‘‘China is showing this.’’

Chinese officials including lead climate negotiator Su Wei have said the country will push energy efficiency in its next five-year plan to be detailed this year.

At today’s panel, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the world is waiting for action from the U.S. in fighting climate change, while European Union Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard said that U.S. businesses stand to lose out by stalling in taking action.

‘‘American business should be aware that we’re up here saying this is a race,” Hedegaard said. “It’s bad economics, it’s bad business not to be among the front runners but to be hesitating. I hope that even more American business people would understand that they need to put the pressure on their politicians.”

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — China’s central government spent 365.5 billion yuan (55.38 billion U.S. dollars) on water conservancy during the past five years, more than double the amount spent during the 2001-2005 period, the Ministry of Finance announced Monday.

The government spent 231.5 billion yuan on water conservation projects during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) to fund the construction of the South-North Water Diversion Project, reinforce aging reservoirs and harness inland waterways, said a statement on the ministry’s website.

The country also allocated 34.97 billion yuan during the past five years to build irrigation facilities and other farmland irrigation projects nationwide, said the statement.

The increased spending on water conservation played a significant role in managing water flows China’s major rivers and seven consecutive years of good harvests, the statement said.

The government plans to invest 4 trillion yuan in water conservation over the next 10 years as many cities face water shortages and irrigation facilities are badly in need of overhaul, the Communist Party of China Central Committee’s Leading Group on Rural Work has announced.

The government Saturday issued a document that makes water conservancy construction a priority task.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com