During the NPC & CPPCC in 2010, “low-carbon” became a much talked about topic.
According to statistics obtained by reporters from the CBN Daily, proposals relating to “low-carbon” submitted by the delegates of the NPC and CPPCC accounted for about 10% of total proposals, and the number of matters concerning “low-carbon” relating to deputies and members were huge in number.
This indicates that “low-carbon” is no longer just a concept, and that “low-carbon life” and “low-carbon economy” are becoming the consensus of the whole society and an expectation for future development and continuation. But there is a huge gap between “enthusiasm” and “actualization”.
On 3 March, Italian Euro-Union News Agency remarked that “whether China can take the lead around the world in the next decades largely depends on China’s capacity in response to the development and adjustment of low-carbon economy, therefore, China must take active steps to tackle such severe challenges as soon as possible”.
“Low-carbon” appears at the “Two Sessions”
During the two sessions this year, when registering, each of the political advisors received an environmentally-friendly bag printed marked with the words “for our children's future, refuse white pollution”. Mr. Pu Cunxin, one of the political advisors, came to Conference Team for registration by bike and Mr. Chen Fei, delegate of the rural population, personally went down to the communities in Beijing to send out baskets for carrying vegetables and leaflets for environment protection on one afternoon.
At the first Press Conference of the Third Session of the Eleventh CPPCC National Conference, Mr. Zhao Qizheng, news spokesperson, in response to queries from reporters, said the “low-carbon economy” had been a key word in the proposals from political advisors. The Proposal on the Promotion of Low Carbon Development in the Economic Society in China submitted by the Jiusan Society Central Committee gained a high degree of recognition from the NDRC, and ranked “Number One Proposal” of the conference.
In fact, CPPCC was also a practitioner of low carbon in the two sessions this year. Several months before the opening of the conference, Conference officials set about considering the replacement of paper, which in the past years was no small expenditure. The traditional paper-making industry is against environmental protection and low carbon. So, you see, during the two sessions, various paper-based articles on the tables of the delegates and members are made from stone, which is more environmentally friendly.
This kind of paper is not only “comfortable, soft and resilient”, but also, and even more important, is made without water during the production, emitting no waste gas, water or other hazardous waste compared with traditional paper-making technology. This kind of paper can be degraded or recycled, and is characterized by “low carbon” and low price.
Mr. Zhang Chongwu, executive chairman of Champions of the Earth Stone Paper Technology Co., Ltd., Shun Tak Holdings Limited, Liaoning, told our reporter that since February 23, the company had supplied 100,000 scratchpads, 45,000 degradable environment-friendly bags (shopping or rubbish bags) and 20,000 hand bags exclusively for the two sessions, delivered to Beijing in batches.
Actual action needed
The practice of low carbon at the two sessions is more of a demonstration than anything else. Experts told our reporter that the bulk of low carbon tasks should be carried out by industrial enterprises.
The first 2010 CO2 Emissions List estimated per sector issued by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently indicates that, of the CO2 emissions deriving from coal consumption, the top three industrial sectors and their ratio of the total amount of CO2 emissions by coal consumption respectively are: manufacturers and suppliers of electricity and thermal power, by 48.7%; ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry, by 8.9%; oil processing, coal coking and nuclear fuel processing industry, by 8.7%.
Compared to Japan and the US, there exists great potential of energy conservation and emissions reduction among such high-energy-consumption industries in China.
Mr. Feng Weizhong, GM of Shenergy Company Limited, told our reporter that “70% of the energy in China depends on coal, of which more than a half is consumed by power plants. If these big proportions in energy conservation and emission reduction are well solved, the essence will have been seized.”
Besides, delegates and members focused on the Government taking the lead in “low carbon”. In the Proposal on Promotion of Low-carbon Life to Increase Social Sustainability, the Jiusan Society pointes out that the Government itself is a huge resource consumer. Statistics show that the average consumption of a governmental agency is more than 20% compared to the average private level.
There are also suggestions from above proposals that it is necessary to install sub-electric meters in each floor or office room, reporting electricity consumption regularly. Governmental procurement should be “green”, purchasing environmentally friendly products such as recycled paper, energy-saving lamps and low emission cars, and especially, leading cadres should take the lead in taking environmental friendly cars.
Therefore, “low-carbon” has entered the “two sessions”, but more important is whether if can come out of the “two sessions”, for which, it needs to break through the barriers of the policy and system.
Call for “carbon tax” plus “subsidy”
In the Proposal on Reasonable Development of New Energy Resources and Green Economy, the central committee of Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party points out that “some of the local governments still stick to traditional and extensive economic growth patterns.” Since the detailed rules for Act of Renewable Energy Resources have not been constituted, no reasonable and continuous incentives are set for grid companies, and wind power and photovoltaic power not favored due to their output fluctuation, providing a disincentive to companies for investing in such industries.
One important aspect of the development mode of low carbon is to establish a policy system for new energy resources and economy. The central committee of Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party suggested that government subsidy should be applied to gird companies to renovate their equipment and facilities and link wind power and photovoltaic power, characterized by output fluctuation, into the national grid. At the same time, adjust finance allowance and grant subsidy to manufactures of the equipment for new energy resources according to their innovation of technology, and link consumption subsidy for new energy products with the efficacy of energy conservation thereof.
Reasonable imposition of carbon tax is an effective way to promote the low-carbon economy. “According to the survey, the international environment and domestic conditions for China to announce and implement a policy of carbon tax are basically sound”. In the proposal relating to carbon tax submitted to the Conference, the central committee of Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party suggests that the overall policy system for resources and environment should be gradually established and improved by adopting formulation of carbon tax policy. Establish a fund for national renewable energy resources or low–carbon economy by imposing carbon tax to support the development of green economy and low-carbon economy.
The central committee of China Party for Public Interest thinks that the low-carbon development strategy should be carried out into local areas, especially the Eastern and Southern coastal regions as soon as possible, combined with the tasks of energy conservation and emission reduction and the Eleventh Five-year plan.
Jiusan Society puts forwards that “it is necessary to establish low-carbon development with Chinese characteristics as a major strategy for social and economic development” and to carry out several major action plans for low-carbon development. (source: the CBN Daily)