A recent Energy Information Administration (EIA) report noted that India and China were going to lead the world in the global increase in energy consumption over the coming decades. Its unclear if that also means those developing countries will lead in carbon emissions.
In its second “Annual Review of Low-Carbon Development in China,” the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) found that under its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), China achieved a 19.1% reduction in the energy intensity of its economy. But at the same time, overall emissions were up 33.6%, with emissions from building operation and transportation growing 41%.
“Understanding how China reduced its energy intensity during the 11th Five-Year Plan will help policymakers achieve further reductions under the 12th Five-Year Plan,” said CPI Beijing Director Qi Ye.
Over the last decade China has been heavily supporting development of renewable power, energy efficiency technology and carbon capture technologies. Its cumulative investment in industry emissions targets, building codes, vehicle efficiency standards, market instruments to provide incentive, such as energy performance contracting, reached 2.59 trillion yuan (or about $339 billion) this year.
But rapid industrial growth throughout China has outpaced the government’s efforts to replace carbon intensive infrastructure with energy efficiency technology, the think tank said in its report. This may be partially due to the fact that China focused mostly on heavy industry and largely failed to regulate small and medium sized sources of emissions.
The Chinese government’s inability to hold overall carbon emissions down is far from unique, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said its World Energy Outlook, released on Wednesday. It found, however, that China is the world’s largest energy consumer, and is projected to use 70% more power than in the US by 2035.
“Growth, prosperity and rising population will inevitably push up energy needs over the coming decades. But we cannot continue to rely on insecure and environmentally unsustainable uses of energy,” said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven with the release of the report.
“Governments need to introduce stronger measures to drive investment in efficient and low-carbon technologies,” she said. “The Fukushima nuclear accident, the turmoil in parts of the Middle East and North Africa and a sharp rebound in energy demand in 2010 which pushed CO2 emissions to a record high, highlight the urgency and the scale of the challenge.”
Photo Caption: Vehicles pass a power plant in Beijing, on 19 November 2007, as a water cooling tower emits a cloud of steam. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by Chinese power plants are expected to surpass US utilities’ emissions of the main greenhouse gas by 2017, according to the Center for Global Development. China’s booming growth has ravaged the environment, with about 70% of its waterways polluted and urban air quality among the worst in the world.
