Climate change is a new facet of life in developing and emerging economies; keeping with the environmental spirit of the times, China’s 13th five-year plan sets out a path of sustainable development for its economic growth.
The country has unveiled new strategies to tackle climate change and the plan is expected to achieve nonbinding targets set at the Paris Climate Conference and will exceed expectations set in the Copenhagen accord of 2009. According to the World Resources Institute, an environmental watchdog, China will aim for a 48 percent reduction from its baseline set at 2005.
The new plan will be executed between 2016 and 2020, and will address environmental challenges such as climate change related issues, air pollution, water management, urbanization and transportation.
China aims to grow at 6.5 percent in the coming years, and most of the growth will come from its services sector, which is expected to contribute approximately 50 percent to 55 percent of its gross domestic product by 2020. China’s emphasis on growth through the services sector will help it achieve carbon reduction targets; the service sector’s contribution to climate change is much lower than that of traditional sectors such as heavy industries and infrastructure development. The new plan states that China should reduce its energy use to 5 billion tons of standard coal equivalent.
It also mentions the Chinese government’s blueprint of doing more globally; by reducing its carbon emissions and reaching out to other countries through bilateral dialogue and cooperation.
China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It uses more coal than any other country. But it has started clean energy investment in solar power that has the potential to green the economy. In 2015, China added more than 15 gigawatts of new solar capacity, thus for the first time surpassing Germany as the largest solar power market.
China is the largest consumer of solar power in the world with 43.2 gigawatts of solar capacity, compared to 38.4 gigawatts in Germany and 27.8 gigawatts in the United States. In the 13th five-year plan, China has a target of adding 15 to 20 gigawatts of solar power capacity every year till 2020; and that will eventually bring China’s solar power capacity to 140 gigawatts.
China has surpassed the European Union in clean energy investment, research and development spending on eco-friendly technologies, power transmission grids and sale of electric vehicles. The new five-year plan will double its wind energy capacity and increase its solar power capacity thrice over.
