Bridging an energy gap

BEIJING, July 13 -- U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary
Gary Locke are beginning their China trip tomorrow to explore clean energy
cooperation.

Environmental issues top the agenda of every U.S. official visiting China,
and the visit by two Chinese-Americans will be no exception.

China and the United States produce an estimated 40 percent of the
greenhouse gases emitted worldwide. While the two countries have not always
agreed on how to best tackle climate change, a renewed focus on environmental
issues may provide the basis for cooperation in the spirit of reducing
ecological damage.

In their formal positions, the two sides remain far apart. China wants
developed nations to make a 40 percent cut in emissions by 2020 from 1990
levels, far beyond the goal set by the administration of U.S. President Barack
Obama, which plans to reduce the emissions by 2020 to the level of 1990.

The U.S. wants China to set voluntary, but verifiable, goals to reduce its
energy use and, in the longer term, to join richer nations in cutting overall
emissions.

China's reality offers a plethora of opportunities for cooperation.

China is a major player in negotiations regarding global climate change. It
is also a country of stark contrasts - its greenhouse gas emissions are among
the largest in the world. Still, on a per-capita basis its emissions remain far
below those in the US or Europe as it continues to struggle against poverty.

China is also among the most vulnerable countries to the impact of climate
change. At the same time, China is now one of the world's strongest economies
and increasingly a major source of climate solutions, such as the mass
production of solar and wind technologies.

President Hu Jintao recently declared that China will promote a
"conservation culture", which is sometimes translated into English as an
"ecological civilization". His statement reflects one of the biggest questions
of the 21st century: Can China forge a new model of development, bypassing
polluting technologies and wasteful practices historically dominant in the West
to help lead the world toward sustainability?

Scholars take this as a challenge and hope for a renewed partnership
between China and the U.S.

China is ahead of schedule to achieve a 20 percent improvement in energy
intensity from 2005 to 2010. It is doubling the energy it taps from the wind
year over year and has just made a massive commitment to expand solar power.

"When members of the U.S. Congress or the media claim that China is doing
nothing to solve this problem, they are simply wrong - although China still must
do much more," said John Podesta, president of Center for American Progress.

There are numerous areas in which China-U.S. cooperation on clean energy
can be in both our interests. We have many complementary capabilities.

Such cooperation must be based on the trust that grows out of a realistic
understanding of each other's actions, problems, worries, capabilities and
goals. That trust is now lacking.

Despite the differences in principles that separate the industrialized
world from developing countries over responsibilities for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, the most important developed and the largest developing country
can find significant ways to work together.

(Source: China Daily)