China's Top Leaders Stress Importance of Renewable Energy

China Watch Home About China Watch

Prioritizing the exploitation and use of renewable energy is the only way for the world to deal with its growing energy and environmental problems and achieve sustainable development, Chinese President Hu Jintao stated at a recent global gathering. He made the remarks in a written speech to the 2005 Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference, convened at the Great Hall of the People on November 7-8, Xinhua News Agency reported.

President Hu noted that China attaches great importance to the development and utilization of renewable resources, making them a key driver of economic and social development. He stressed that China is dedicated to building a resource-saving, environmentally friendly society, which it hopes to achieve by accelerating economic restructuring, adjusting the country's economic growth path, improving innovation capacity, building a “circular” economy, protecting ecosystems, and stepping-up renewable energy efforts.

Hu also called on the international community to improve cooperation in renewables research and development, technology transfer, and funding. He said it is the common responsibility of all countries to improve global cooperation to adequately meet the world's shared energy and environmental challenges.

In his opening remarks, Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan told the conference that China will increase the share of renewables in its energy mix to 15 percent by 2020. He noted that the country will make better use of its water resources, build several wind power plants with a generating capacity of 1 million kilowatts each, intensify the use of solar energy, expand methane utilization in rural areas, and actively promote the bio-energy sector, while boosting technology R&D.

Zeng called on the developed world and international organizations to live up to their commitments made in Bonn, Germany, in 2004 to offer assistance to developing countries for the use of renewable energy, including funding, technology, expertise, and management. Global investment in renewables reached a record $30 billion in 2004, according to a recent report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Technologies such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and small hydro now provide 160 gigawatts of electricity generating capacity, about 4 percent of the world total, the report found.

A follow-up meeting to the 2004 Bonn International Renewable Energy Conference, the Beijing conference has attracted more than 1,200 attendees, including energy and environmental officials from nearly 100 countries, the United Nations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Commission, as well as representatives from NGOs, financial institutions, and academia.