Build a green China
- By Li Wuzhou
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E-mail China Today, March 3, 2016
With this in mind, China has done its utmost to improve rules and laws on environmental protection. The country has indeed encouraged science and technology innovations and the transformation of modes of economic growth by advocating a green consumption path. China's resolve to combat environmental pollution is thus manifest.
China has adopted various macro adjustment and control methods of eliminating outdated capacity. They include curbing environmentally polluting, high energy consumption industrial projects, promoting development of new energy, and improving projects that generate high emissions, according to Professor Cai Shouqiu, chairman of Chinese Society of Environment and Resources Law. Cai said that China has applied to companies whose production methods cause serious pollution the policies of shutting down or suspending their operations, or amalgamating them with other companies.
Moreover, China has fundamentally formed its law system aimed at pollution prevention and control and environmental protection. It includes laws on protecting marine environment, and air and water pollution prevention and control, and also various laws that promote cleaner production, circular economy and natural resources conservation.
These efforts have achieved good results. In the past five years, China has eliminated the outdated production capacity of 100 million tons of steel, 560 million tons of coal, and 400 million tons of cement. In 2014, China's energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by 29.9 percent and its carbon dioxide emissions by 33.8 percent of the 2005 levels, according to Zhao Baige, member of National Expert Committee on Climate Change. The target of a 17 percent reduction of 2010 levels of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 2015 has been achieved. China is now the world's largest country as regards energy conservation and utilization of new and renewable energy.
Statistics cited by Professor Cao Mingde of China University of Political Science and Law show that China's energy productivity has improved from RMB 1,891.3 per tonne of coal equivalent (TCE) in 1990 to RMB 14,792.2 per TCE. The energy intensity gap between China and developed countries is gradually narrowing.
Green lifestyle
Although many Chinese people do not completely comprehend what "going green" entails, they recognize and are agreeable to the green lifestyle that various government departments and civil societal organizations have promoted over the past few years. Green commuting, green consumption, and green furniture are indeed the latest trends.
License plates in traffic-jam fraught cities must be obtained through a lottery or auction system. Purchasers of new energy cars, however, are not only exempted from such restrictions, but also enjoy government subsidies. China is consequently the world's biggest market for new-energy vehicles. In 2015, more than 300,000 new-energy vehicles were sold in China, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total global sales volume.
Owing to road conditions and income levels, electric bicycles and tricycles are most popular with Chinese people. In 2015, a total of 22 million electric bicycles and eight million electric tricycles were sold in China. However, many people still prefer the bog-standard pushbike, due to the health benefits to be gained from self-generated mobile energy.
Policies, including that whereby Beijing residents enjoy subsidies of eight to 20 percent of the retail price when buying energy-saving appliances, encourage manufacturers to improve and make home appliances more energy-efficient.
In addition to the government's efforts, many culture, arts, film and TV, and sports celebrities also make their due contribution. Some social organizations hold various activities that show how to calculate a carbon footprint, and how emission quota can be traded on carbon emission markets.
Chinese people today, especially urban residents, have an enhanced awareness of green lifestyle. Many consumers take bags with them to supermarkets or other retail outlets, to avoid excessive use of plastic bags. People who often go on business trips bring their own toiletries rather than using those supplied at hotels. And more and more people choose energy-saving lamps, even though they are considerably more expensive than ordinary ones.
In some residential communities, volunteers collect unwanted used clothing and books and donate them to people in poverty-stricken areas. Schoolchildren who have learned about the green lifestyle in class often urge other family members to conserve water and energy. Li Mengchu, born into a middle-class family in Shanghai, plays in an orchestra. She declines to let either of her parents drive her to rehearsals in the family car, preferring instead to travel with her cello on the bus. She told China Today that many of her friends do the same.
When visiting a low-carbon residential community in Wuhan City, China Today was surprised to see that some residents even used the accumulated oil under the range hood to make soap.
