Former President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative has been all over the news lately, working with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and big business to move the ball forward with clean energy solutions to global warming. Whatever you think of the guy, it’s hard to deny that his partnerships are impressive and the results could be revolutionary.

Besides the agreement by utilities to invest in energy efficiency, and besides Florida Power & Light’s major new commitment to solar energy, the Clinton Global Initiative is also partnering with the Joint U.S.-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUUCCCE) on efficiency efforts in China.

The China Lighting Conversion program will distribute 10 million free energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to customers. CFLs use one-third the energy of traditional bulbs, but are still cost-prohibitive to many Chinese. According to JUUCCCE, the CFLs would save about 3.7 million tons of CO2 over 4 ½ years — enough to avoid having to build one typical U.S.-size coal plant. While I tell myself it’s encouraging to see the start of another clean energy commitment in China, I’m still disheartened by the multiple coal plants they’re building each week. But change has to start somewhere.

The other JUUCCCE program is the Energy Efficient Urban Design Tools for Mayors. This is an interactive, multimedia curriculum to train hundreds of Chinese mayors on technology and best practices that can make their cities more energy efficient. Mayors will learn about green building programs, for example, and will connect with vendors, service providers and financial advisors to help them implement what they learn. The key with this program will be rigorous follow-up and support to ensure that the information learned isn’t forgotten or lost in the bureaucracy one the mayor returns to the city.

The first phase will begin with the CFL program in April 2008, with the training for mayors to start in October of next year.

Joint U.S.-China Cooperation on Clean Energy

Last week China reiterated its commitment to renewable energy, particularly hydropower. The Asian nation plans to triple its hydropower production to 300,000 megawatts by 2020.

Chinese officials also asked the world to cut them some slack in their efforts to cut global warming pollution.

China’s contribution to global warming has been relatively small compared to the more developed Western nations, they argue, and they shouldn’t be held overly accountable. According to Chen Deming of the National Development and Reform Commission, "I hope the international media will give us some development rights, some development space and not overly blame us."

Wind power and biofuels, in addition to big hydro, will help China reach its goal of producing 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. But it’s the hydropower expansion that is raising the eyebrows of some who are concerned about the large dams’ environmental impact.

Chen Deming argued that cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that contribute to global warming is more important than any negative environmental impact of huge hydropower. Other groups like Greenpeace argue that the damage caused by large dams – like the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River — could have more consequences than conventional power plants because of the massive amount of CO2 released when trees and plant life are destroyed.

AFX News, via Forbes
Associated Press, via DelawareOnline

Image: China’s Three Gorges Dam

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits China again this week, marking her second official visit to the nation. While she traveled with a delegation of business interests eager to make headway into the burgeoning Asian economy, Merkel’s trip also included some serious talk about climate change solutions.

On Monday, she urged Chinese leaders to do more to cut heat-trapping emissions. That led to the Chinese rebuttal that the West has been polluting the planet much longer than the Chinese have been. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that although his people want “blue skies, green hills, and clear water,” it’s much harder for China to cut emissions that it is for other, more developed nations like Germany. A rapidly growing economy and a much larger population have put it on the fast-track towards development, but China is wary of climate change policies that would slow its development.

Nonetheless, Wen did promise Merkel that China would work hard to slow global warming in its next five-year plan on the environment that begins in 2011 – that’s in addition to the 20 percent increase in energy efficiency, and a 10 percent cut in emissions planned by 2010.

Merkel noted that industrialized nations should make clean technology available to developing countries, and that China should also develop its own technology or adopt it from abroad. China’s expected annual economic growth of 10 percent is not sustainable with improvements in efficiencies, she noted.

Back in June, G8 leaders agreed to pursue unspecified cuts in global warming emissions and to work with the UN on a post-Kyoto Protocol plan (under Kyoto, China has no emissions gargets because it’s a developing nation). In December, world environment ministers will meet in Bali to begin planning a course of action after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Reuters
DPA News, via EarthTimes

This week a senior U.S. environment official met with Chinese representatives in Beijing to discuss cooperation between the two nations in the fight against global warming.

China and the U.S. are the two largest emitters of global warming pollution, with China recently surpassing the U.S. as the world leader in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – a major contributor to global warming.

James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, praised China’s “very aggressive measures in recognition of challenges of reducing air pollution.”

Last December, the Asian nation announced it would emit at a slower rate than previously planned, cutting pollution per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent by 2010. As their impressive economy continues to grow, so too will their pollution.

Connaughton also discussed President George W. Bush’s proposals to cut climate change emissions with the Chinese, noting "It is an exciting time in the relations between China and the United States in the areas of environmental quality and economic prosperity."

While the U.S. is facing pressure from the rest of the world to make real, measurable cuts in emissions, it’s admittedly smart politics to align itself with a rapidly growing nation that is also slow to commit to real emissions reductions. A strong political and economic partnership means more muscle to negotiate at the global climate change meetings President Bush has planned for the end of September, as well as the continued negotiations beyond the expiration the Kyoto Protocol’s first phase in 2012.

While China has shown progress in emissions reductions - stronger vehicle fuel efficiency standards than the U.S., for example - I’m still cautious about a U.S.-China partnership to tackle climate change, especially while the Bush administration running the show. A partnership that involves real cuts in emissions, strengthens a global clean energy economy, and facilitates the exchange of cutting-edge technology is the only way these two nations can show real leadership in a cleantech era.

China View
World Watch

We can stop the chest beating and flag waving, folks: China has passed the U.S. as the largest annual emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution.

Although some analysts didn’t expect China to overtake the U.S. for several years, the U.K. newspaper The Guardian reports that the Asian nation is now the world’s biggest producer of carbon dioxide, a main contributor to global warming. However, the U.S. still remains the largest cumulative contributor to climate change, and our per capita CO2 emissions are four times that of China. Whew.

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which crunched the numbers, noted that China's soaring demand for coal (the equivalent of one coal plant is built each week) and surge in cement production (a very energy-intensive process) helped push it to the top. Although the statistics don’t include other sources of CO2 pollution, such as aviation, shipping, gas flaring and underground coal fires, a scientist from the Agency noted that those numbers would likely not affect China’s top spot.

The announcement may put more pressure on world leaders to work out a climate change agreement that includes China in the solution, as well as the U.S. Earlier this month, China unveiled a plan to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent by 2010. But as the GDP grows, so too will its emissions. It has stressed that technology and costs are major barrier to energy efficiency, and wants international help moving towards a low-carbon economy.

It’s Getting Hot in Here
The Guardian
Technology Review

There’s a lot of talk about China’s staggering amount of planned coal plants, and the narrowing gap between it and the U.S. for the title of Planet’s Biggest Carbon Dioxide Emitter. But China is examining at least one unique way to develop more sustainably.

Welcome to Dongtan, the world’s first CO2-free city. Developers are building this $1.3 billion eco-city just outside of Shanghai. Renewable energy will be used extensively, the layout of the city maximizes walking and biking rather than cars, and transport vehicles will run on batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. Other plans include recycling organic waste, green roofs, and rainwater capture.

Dongtan will cover an area about three-quarters the size of Manhattan on wetlands at the mouth of the Yangtze River. However, Peter Head of Arup, the London-based firm heading the planning, said the wetlands are not at risk from the development. From the Architectural Record:

“‘First of all, water usually discharged into the river will be collected, treated, and recycled within the city boundaries,” he says. ‘There will be a 2-mile buffer zone of eco-farm between city development and the wetlands.’ While farming is water intensive, relatively small amounts of water reach the plants themselves. Head says Dongtan ‘will capture and recycle water in the city and use recycled water to grow green vegetables hydroponically. This makes the whole water cycle much more efficient.’”

But what will the habitants do in this eco-utopia? City officials and consultants expect jobs in education like at the planned Institute for Sustainable Cities, and they anticipate attracting companies pursuing clean technologies, food research and production, and health care. Dongtan is also expected to rely heavily on ecotourism.

Designers hope CO2-free city will serve as a model for the rest of the urbanized world. Its first phase includes a marina village of 20,000 habitants that will be unveiled at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Nearly 80,000 people are expected to live in the city by 2020, and eventually designers hope to see 500,000 citizens living the good, green life there.

Architectural Record
Jetson Green

China’s environment minister, Xie Zhenhua, just announced that his country will increase its use of renewable energy and implement energy efficiency measures to fight global warming.

The plan came out after a two-day meeting of environment ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations and five major developing countries, including China, to discuss successor agreements to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The plan includes improving efficiency by 20 percent by 2010, increasing renewable energy like hydropower, wind, and solar to be 10 percent of all electricity used by 2010, and decreasing nitrous oxide emissions to the 2005 level by 2010.

Zhenhua was vague about China setting specific targets for carbon dioxide cuts, saying that the success of the Kyoto Protocol’s 2012 targets need to be evaluated and assessed before further targets are determined.

China is the world's second biggest emitter of carbon dioxide pollution, after the United States.

China Economic Net
Reuters, via The Age