China can achieve economic growth without degrading the environment, should it increase its reliance on renewable energy and raise energy efficiency, an energy investigation report found.

The report, Energy Revolution: A Sustainable China Energy Outlook, was released yesterday in Beijing. It charts the findings of a joint global study carried out by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC).

"Our report shows that China can maintain economic growth while also keeping carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at their current level by 2050," Sven Teske, an energy expert with Greenpeace International, said. "However, any hope of this occurring must stem from both industrialized and developing countries cooperating on moving investment away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and renewable energy."

China now releases about 5 billion tons of CO2 a year.

The report accounted for China's development needs and paid attention to the country's energy saving plan, which seeks to lower energy consumption for every unit of GDP by 20 percent by 2010 from 2005.  

The report also indicated China's target is close to matching Greenpeace's energy revolution scenario, which seeks a 23.7 percent lowering.

On renewable energy, the report encouraged China to adopt a more aggressive stance on the development of wind energy and a solar photovoltaic (PV) system. Currently, China plans to depend on renewable energy for 16 percent of its demand by 2020.

To achieve this, China will develop the means to create 300 GW of hydropower, 30 GW of wind power, and 1.8 GW of solar photovoltaic. According to the energy revolution scenario touted by Greenpeace, China could set the bar much higher, aiming for 118 GW of wind power and 25 GW of solar PV power by 2020.

Yang Ailun, Greenpeace China climate and energy campaign manager, said: "Greenpeace calls for the Chinese government to introduce strong policies such as feed-in-tariffs to support the development of wind and solar PV industries in China."

"China must break its coal dependency. Fortunately with the enforcement of energy-efficiency targets and also the decision to close down the 50-GW coal plants, by far the least efficient, the trend of massive plants should be slowed down from 2008 on."

(China Daily April 26, 2007)