Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
changes undoubtedly increase the uncertainty surrounding China's long term
energy demand and carbon emissions. To turn China into a well-off society in an
all-around way and a moderately developed country by 2020, without reinforced
emission reduction policies, China's total energy demand and carbon emissions will
still multiply and even with energy saving efforts the increase will only slow down
after 2035 [
4
].
In short, the world's energy safety, international pressure on emission-reduction,
and huge domestic demand compel China to abandon the old development pattern
of “high pollution and high emissions” and develop a distinct industrialization path
of low-carbon and green development. In this context, the “12th Five-Year Plan for
the National Economic and Social Development” pointed out that China must speed
the “transformation of its economic development mode” and take “green develop-
ment”, “recycling economy”, “low-carbon technology”, and “sustainable develop-
ment with environmental and ecological protection” as the future guidelines of
national economic development.
1.2
China Needs Green and Low-Carbon Development
1.2.1 China's Economic Miracle
The World Bank reported in 1997 that rapid growth and relative equal income
distribution in Asian countries and regions like Japan, South Korea, Singapore,
Taiwan, and Hong Kong can be titled “the East Asian Miracle” (World Bank,
The
East Asian Miracle
, 1997). Since China's reform and opening up in 1978, it has
witnessed violently rapid economic development and is creating another Asian
miracle. Table
1.1
compares the GDP of Asian countries and regions during their
high-speed development. It shows that China's economic development is the most
vigorous and lasting.
Meantime, per capita income in China increased from US$ 313 in 1980 to US$
4,200 in 2010, or about US$ 7,400 at purchasing power parity (Fig.
1.1
).
1.2.2 China's “Black Growth”
China has paid an enormous cost for its rapid development. It has severe environ-
mental pollution and has become one of the biggest pollution sources in the world.
Professor Hu Angang of Tsinghua University, an expert of the National Conditions
Study, has called growth at the expense of environment “black growth”.
1
He stated
that China was one of the most polluted countries in the world, and could be called a
1
Hu Angang (2011) Low-Carbon Political Economy, in Xue Jinjun eds.
The Economics of Low-
Carbon,
Social Science Academy Press.
