Worldwatch Special Focus: China

The Worldwatch Institute's China Program helps decision makers both within China and around the globe better understand the environmental challenges and opportunities facing this vast country of 1.3 billion people. By tracking and analyzing trends in China's natural resources, pollution, technologies, and policies, Worldwatch serves as a go-to source on the Chinese environmental situation. The Institute has become a leading voice in international efforts to urge decision-makers in China to prioritize climate change on their domestic agenda and to move quickly toward solutions.

With China poised to overtake the United States as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, how the country tackles its rising energy demand and other environmental challenges has become a global concern. The environmental consequences of China's current economic development already reach beyond national borders. The choices that China makes, both now and in the future, will have a decisive impact on Earth's ability to sustain the ecological systems on which human well-being depends.

The current political climate offers new opportunities for greater environmental understanding and cooperation between the United States and China. Progress on international climate negotiations will depend on a new level of leadership by both governments. As a globally focused research institute, Worldwatch is well poised to help bridge the information gap between leaders and researchers from both nations.

Read more:

Watch Worldwatch's China Program Manager, Yingling Liu, on PBS's Foreign Exchange
Why are China's environmental issues of global importance?

China Watch Archives
Read archived news and analysis from China Watch-a joint project of the Worldwatch Institute and the Global Environment Institute in Beijing.

Powering China's Development: The Role of Renewable Energy
A look at China's progress in becoming a renewable energy leader.

State of the World 2006: Special Focus, China and India
This 2006 edition of Worldwatch's flagship annual publication looks at China and India's rapid development and at the growing impact these two countries have as major consumers of resources and polluters of both local and global ecosystems.