When most countries hit their industrial revolutions, there are usually no second thoughts about pollution, including greenhouse gases [GHG]. China, the second-biggest economy on the in the world and largest GHG emitter, was no different, and now, as manufacturing is taking off and its market is picking up, regulators are planning to clamp down on energy-related GHG emissions.
Industrialization is taking off in China, threatening natural resources and beautiful countryside, and unless China learns from the mistakes of other industrialized nations, their roots literally could dry up.
In his speech at the Chinese Communist Party Congress, President Hu Jintao, called for action, saying, “We should launch a revolution in energy production and consumption… We should keep more farmland for farmers and leave to our future generations a beautiful homeland with green fields, clean water and a blue sky.”
To that end, China already has already targeted 700 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions trading in various provinces by next year.
By 2015, China wants to hit 11% renewable energy production, which is really saying something for the second-biggest world economy in the midst of massive industrial expansion. If China can pull it off, this might encourage more economies, emerging and established, to take the green revolution.
