During four days of discussions in Beijing, Greenpeace, the
European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Chinese Renewable
Energy Industry Association (CREIA) have formed an historic
partnership, committing themselves to ensuring that wind power
plays a key role in China's energy future. Due to rapid economic
growth, China has faced power shortages and a huge increase in
energy imports in recent months. The groups pledged to assist China
to "meet, if not exceed, the new Renewable Energy targets" it
announced in Germany in June.
"Soaring oil imports, wild fluctuations in international oil
prices, the mounting costs of extreme weather events and heightened
concern over energy security mean that China's commitment to
renewables at this time is crucial. But this is not a problem for
China alone, the whole world has a vested interest in helping China
meet its development needs without further destabilising the
climate", warned Yu Jie of Greenpeace.
The toll that climate change impacts exact on China is truly
frightening, demanding urgent action. Increased global temperatures
threaten to significantly reduce the country's rice production, and
more than 60 percent of Chinese glaciers are anticipated to
disappear by 2050, threatening the fresh water supply for more than
250 million Chinese.
According to Greenpeace, the only long term sustainable solution
to China's energy crisis is through the massive uptake of renewable
energy sources such as wind, solar, micro-hydro, modern biomass and
geothermal power, which not only provide clean energy but can
create local industries and millions of jobs.
Renewable energy is playing a growing role in Chinese energy
supply and is poised to become a significant future energy source.
The Chinese Government has set a target to meet 12 percent of its
power generation capacity from renewables by 2020. A significant
share of this new capacity will come from wind. In May 2004, the
three groups launched the report 'Wind Force 12 - China', an
industry scenario which showed that by 2020 China is capable of
installing 170 GW of wind power, delivering annual savings of 325
million tonnes of CO2 and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The report further showed how to create a massive industrial
manufacturing capacity for wind turbines and outlined the policy
frameworks necessary to unlock these opportunities with a
combination of public, private and citizen inputs.
"European experience has shown that with the right policy
framework wind energy can play a major role in China's energy
future," said Corin Millais, Executive Director of the European
Wind Energy Association. "We believe there is a real potential for
China to become a major player in the global wind power industry,
and anticipate greater cooperation with our Chinese partners."
"The development of China's new renewable energy law, which is
expected to be finalised early next year, has generated great
interest internationally. China's anticipated entry into the global
renewable energy market is expected to have a profound impact on
the global industry," said Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the
Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association. 'We have spent a lot
of time and energy learning from the successes and failures of our
partners in Europe and around the world. We believe that this law
can start a renewable energy revolution in China."