China – energy and economic security first; climate second
Posted February 25, 2010 at 2:44 pm 
Filed in: Today’s Greenwire (http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2010/02/25/6/) reaffirms that the Chinese government has their eye squarely on the ball of energy and economic security and isn’t about to hamstring their development by capping absolute emissions — something they equate with stifling growth.
The piece, actually citing Agence France-Presse, begins:
“China’s chief climate change negotiator says the country has no plans to cap its greenhouse gas emissions for the time being, state media reported today.
“Su Wei, who led China’s negotiating team at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in December, said yesterday that China “could not and should not” set an upper boundary on its greenhouse gas emissions right now because the country’s economy is still growing, so its carbon emissions must be allowed to increase.”
The Chinese government is keenly interested in making their booming economy more energy efficient, and has pledged to “reduce its carbon intensity — the measure of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product — by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 based on 2005 levels.”
Former President Bush pioneered the energy intensity metric in his commitments to reduce emissions, but the Chinese have a better ability than Bush did to see it through. The “pledge will be a binding part of China’s next two five-year economic development plans,” says Agence France-Presse.
In their quest for improved energy efficiency, the Chinese are deploying both conventional and advanced energy technology at a rapid pace. Indeed, there’s much talk in Washington about the US losing its technological edge in this field. One respected analyst recently posited that China “missed the industrial revolution and then missed the telecommunications revolution — they aren’t going to miss the green technology revolution.”
Be clear, though, that the expressed intent of the Chinese in developing green technology is to first protect economic security by enhancing their energy security and then as a welcome by-product to also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a focus that American policy-makers would do well to replicate.
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