Today I went to a lecture organized by Tsinghua SEM and INSEAD EMBA about China’s unique opportunity to achieve sustainable peaceful development held by Dr. Lee George LAM who is Chairman of Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of Hong Kong.
The title was from „factory of the world“ to „green economy of the world“. I would like to share some of the things he mentioned (no guarantee that I noted them correctly, sorry for any possible errors):
China uses 9% of the worldwide available oil but only produces 5%. China wants to have half of the cars produced in China by 2020 be cars with alternative energy. For 2030 most cars in China will be either hybrid or electric cars.
China will focus on low carbon emission power. But the energy generated by solar, wind or geothermal will not be enough to support the whole country, therefore the focus is on nuclear power. By 2020 5% of all power plant will be nuclear and they will contribute to 10% of the power produced in China.
China is focusing on railways. The plan is to have 16000km of high speed train tracks by 2020. That will be 4 horizontal lines, 4 vertical lines as well as 2 special lines: Beijing to Shanghai and Beijing to Guangzhou. For example on the Wuhan to Guangzhou 1000km long railway the average (not maximum) speed is 350km/h.
Germany is leading the world in terms of green construction and green houses. China will follow these good examples.
China has a natural shortage of fresh water. The country has only 6% of fresh water of the world but accommodates to 22% of the worldwide population. Roughly 300 cities in China are short of water. 40% of the rivers are polluted. There is acid rain especially in the areas with many industrial production sites. last year there was a drought in China and 2.5 million people were short of fresh water.
China is the number 1 producer of waste. Consumers need to be educated to think sustainable and reduce waste. There is investment in green technology and clean technology and that will increase.
Then Dr. Lee George Lam suggested everybody to become a „Green Leader“. We all should make our daily contributions. Like riding a bicycle (actually, he was suggesting taking a subway, but bicycle is even better as you know) or eating less meat. I think he said that if you eat 500gr less beef, that means you reduced your carbon emission by 500gr. But the main thing every individual that starts taking care about these issues should do is: Spread the word. Educate your neighbors. Inspire your friends to live greener. Set up a green business. Lets make a sustainable future for our next generations!