LexisNexis(TM) Academic - Document
LexisNexis(TM) Academic - Document
Copyright 2005 The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times (London, England)
July 1, 2005 Friday
London Edition 1
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY; Pg. 11
LENGTH: 826 words
HEADLINE: EU and the US vie for China's support on emissions Beijing's decision is likely to influence the success of the Kyoto protocol. Fiona Harvey reports
BYLINE: By FIONA HARVEY
BODY:
Among the grasslands, hot springs and pastures of Huitengxile in inner Mongolia, there will soon be a dramatic new addition to the landscape. An installation of 22 wind turbines is being built, providing energy to the population without a reliance on the coal-fired power stations common in other areas.
The money for the development comes from the Netherlands, approved by the World Bank and United Nations. China's efforts to combat climate change are just beginning, and the country is still heavily reliant on foreign investment and technology in this regard.
The country is now the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US, responsible for about 15 per cent of global emissions and rising. But China is classed as a developing nation under the UN-brokered Kyoto protocol and is therefore not bound by the requirements of the treaty to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason China will be pivotal to the discussions of climate change at next week's meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised nations in Scotland. The two sides of the debate, the US and the European Union, will both be anxiously courting Hu Jintao, the Chinese president. Which way China swings will determine the outcome of the climate change debate for the next decade. The US will be exerting pressure behind the scenes to ensure that China does not throw its weight behind the Kyoto protocol. President George W. Bush has rejected the treaty, calling it unfair in allowing developing countries - such as China, India and Brazil - to carry on emitting greenhouse gases unabated while rich countries must cut theirs. He has also argued more scientific research into climate change is needed before urgent action to cut emissions can be justified.On the other side, the EU needs China's support if the Kyoto process is not to crumble. Many of the developed countries required to reduce emissions by an average of 5 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2012 are way behind on their targets. Without the US, there are rumblings that the cuts specified in the treaty will be so small as to have little effect in any case. There is also the crucial question of negotiations beyond 2012, when the main provisions of the Kyoto protocol expire. The US has so far succeeded in blocking any discussion of an extension to the treaty, and the longer it manages to do so, the less time there is for new provisions to be put in place. But for the process to have any effect beyond 2012, developing countries such as China, India and Brazil that have growing greenhouse gas emissions will have to be persuaded to sign up to reduction efforts. This will be tricky; these countries are focused on economic growth, for which cheap energy is a prerequisite. Weaning them from coal, oil and gas will prove expensive.
If the EU could gain China's support it would regain the international initiative on climate change and the US would find it hard to block further discussion of developments beyond 2012. If the US wins over China, the Kyoto process will be all but lost.
China is in a key position to wring economic advantages from its stance. The EU will be wooing Beijing with the lure of joining the international consensus on climate change, from which the US is the only big dissenter.
But more sweeteners may be required. Last year the EU succeeded in persuading President Vladimir Putin of Russia to ratify the Kyoto treaty in return for its backing of his bid to join the World Trade Organisation. What will China receive? As the Huitengxile wind farm shows, one powerful temptation developed countries can hold out is the promise of technology transfer. Renewable power technology, such as wind, solar and wave, are all still very expensive. So is clean coal, which reduces the emissions of coal-fired power plants.
The US, however, is dangling a similar carrot. Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs, told the Financial Times: "We want to assist developing countries like China and India in having access to clean energy technologies. We see this as very important."
If the US succeeds, it will offer such technologies to China as a way of avoiding pressure from developing nations for a worldwide system of emissions cuts. China badly needs new technology to replace its inefficient power stations. Abyd Karmila, managing director of energy consultancy ICF Consulting, says: "Chinese coal technology is very outdated so there is significant scope for improvement at a low cost of carbon abatement - less than Euros 5 a tonne. China needs something in the order of 300 gigawatts of new capacity in 2005 to 2008. That is a huge amount. It would be catastrophic if those additions used the same outdated technology as is currently the state of the art in China."
One spur to Beijing is that the effects of climate change are already being felt. Desertification is affecting areas bordering the Gobi desert, threatening agriculture, as are water shortages.
LOAD-DATE: June 30, 2005
Copyright 2005 The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times (London, England)
July 1, 2005 Friday
London Edition 1
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY; Pg. 11
LENGTH: 826 words
HEADLINE: EU and the US vie for China's support on emissions Beijing's decision is likely to influence the success of the Kyoto protocol. Fiona Harvey reports
BYLINE: By FIONA HARVEY
BODY:
Among the grasslands, hot springs and pastures of Huitengxile in inner Mongolia, there will soon be a dramatic new addition to the landscape. An installation of 22 wind turbines is being built, providing energy to the population without a reliance on the coal-fired power stations common in other areas.
The money for the development comes from the Netherlands, approved by the World Bank and United Nations. China's efforts to combat climate change are just beginning, and the country is still heavily reliant on foreign investment and technology in this regard.
The country is now the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US, responsible for about 15 per cent of global emissions and rising. But China is classed as a developing nation under the UN-brokered Kyoto protocol and is therefore not bound by the requirements of the treaty to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason China will be pivotal to the discussions of climate change at next week's meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised nations in Scotland. The two sides of the debate, the US and the European Union, will both be anxiously courting Hu Jintao, the Chinese president. Which way China swings will determine the outcome of the climate change debate for the next decade. The US will be exerting pressure behind the scenes to ensure that China does not throw its weight behind the Kyoto protocol. President George W. Bush has rejected the treaty, calling it unfair in allowing developing countries - such as China, India and Brazil - to carry on emitting greenhouse gases unabated while rich countries must cut theirs. He has also argued more scientific research into climate change is needed before urgent action to cut emissions can be justified.On the other side, the EU needs China's support if the Kyoto process is not to crumble. Many of the developed countries required to reduce emissions by an average of 5 per cent compared with 1990 levels by 2012 are way behind on their targets. Without the US, there are rumblings that the cuts specified in the treaty will be so small as to have little effect in any case. There is also the crucial question of negotiations beyond 2012, when the main provisions of the Kyoto protocol expire. The US has so far succeeded in blocking any discussion of an extension to the treaty, and the longer it manages to do so, the less time there is for new provisions to be put in place. But for the process to have any effect beyond 2012, developing countries such as China, India and Brazil that have growing greenhouse gas emissions will have to be persuaded to sign up to reduction efforts. This will be tricky; these countries are focused on economic growth, for which cheap energy is a prerequisite. Weaning them from coal, oil and gas will prove expensive.
If the EU could gain China's support it would regain the international initiative on climate change and the US would find it hard to block further discussion of developments beyond 2012. If the US wins over China, the Kyoto process will be all but lost.
China is in a key position to wring economic advantages from its stance. The EU will be wooing Beijing with the lure of joining the international consensus on climate change, from which the US is the only big dissenter.
But more sweeteners may be required. Last year the EU succeeded in persuading President Vladimir Putin of Russia to ratify the Kyoto treaty in return for its backing of his bid to join the World Trade Organisation. What will China receive? As the Huitengxile wind farm shows, one powerful temptation developed countries can hold out is the promise of technology transfer. Renewable power technology, such as wind, solar and wave, are all still very expensive. So is clean coal, which reduces the emissions of coal-fired power plants.
The US, however, is dangling a similar carrot. Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs, told the Financial Times: "We want to assist developing countries like China and India in having access to clean energy technologies. We see this as very important."
If the US succeeds, it will offer such technologies to China as a way of avoiding pressure from developing nations for a worldwide system of emissions cuts. China badly needs new technology to replace its inefficient power stations. Abyd Karmila, managing director of energy consultancy ICF Consulting, says: "Chinese coal technology is very outdated so there is significant scope for improvement at a low cost of carbon abatement - less than Euros 5 a tonne. China needs something in the order of 300 gigawatts of new capacity in 2005 to 2008. That is a huge amount. It would be catastrophic if those additions used the same outdated technology as is currently the state of the art in China."
One spur to Beijing is that the effects of climate change are already being felt. Desertification is affecting areas bordering the Gobi desert, threatening agriculture, as are water shortages.
LOAD-DATE: June 30, 2005
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