Why China Is Acting on Clean Energy: Successes, Challenges, and Implications for U.S. Policies

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the ChinaFAQs Project of the World Resources Institute (WRI) invite you to a briefing about the issues driving China’s renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate policies. While China and the United States differ in important respects, they have some similar challenges and opportunities relating to energy. Both face economic, employment, energy security, and environmental challenges. The United States and China both cooperate and compete with each other on clean energy initiatives and technology.

Speakers will discuss recent energy sector developments in China and bilateral relations, highlighting key factors driving China’s approach to clean energy and climate policy, and the resulting challenges and opportunities for U.S. efforts to develop clean energy and tackle climate change.

Speakers for this event include:

• Joanna Lewis, Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and International Affairs, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
• Ailun Yang, Senior Associate, Major Emerging Economies Initiative, World Resources Institute
• Stephen Munro, Policy and International Analyst, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

China has pursued an ambitious clean energy agenda and as a result is a leader in manufacturing and in the deployment of various clean energy technologies. China’s 12th five-year plan for development released in 2011 sets a goal of 9.5 percent of overall energy usage to come from renewable sources by 2015 and designates new low-carbon energy technologies as a strategic industry to spur economic growth. Additionally, the five-year plan calls for a 17 percent reduction in carbon intensity from 2010 levels by 2015. As part of its efforts to achieve this goal, China will introduce emissions trading schemes in seven cities and provinces starting in 2013.