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Changing China: Industrial upgrade and low carbon strive

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail CNTV, December 2, 2011
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Climate change is a pressing issue facing China as it pursuies economic and social development. As CCTV reporter Guan Xin finds out, fighting climate change does not necessarily mean sacrificing development. Instead, China is seeking to integrate climate change awareness into the nation's plan for economic restructuring.

Could these energy saving bulbs enlighten our future? David Jia started producing energy-efficient lights 15 years ago, when saving energy was not a popular idea. Today, it's a hit.

David Jia, President of Firefly Lighting CO. Ltd, said, "I think consumers and the government realize it from the year 2005, they really understand that there is an overwhelming pressure on our society. So everybody is changing their behavior, trying to save energy, because they say they understand that global warming is true."

The pressure to fight climate change has shifted China's development strategy from pursuing fast growth to low carbon growth. And the government actively seeking to help company is heading in the right direction.

David Jia said, "We get all sorts of support. If you do the right thing, you get land at the lowest price, you got the best tax policy, the best employment policy. So everything improves. Compared to big energy consumers, there really is a big difference."

But not everyone wins at this game. To reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, China raised the market entry threshold for high energy consuming industries and has capped or even shut down highly polluting companies. In recent years, China has forced small power plants to close, as well as poorly efficient Iron ore processing plants.

The scholar also noted that, as China continues to foster strategic and emerging industries - including wind and solar energy production, electric vehicles - it has provided new growth opportunities for Chinese enterprises.

And these efforts are starting to pay off. Although China's economy has been expanding at around 11-percent annually from 2005 to 2010, energy consumption grew only 6.6-percent. Even more noteworthy: over the same period, energy consumption per capita of GDP fell 19-percent

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