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¡º Low-carbon economy calls for emerging industries ¡»[2010-9-3]
The trend of a global, low-carbon economy provides a great opportunity for the development of emerging industries, and in turn those industries will boost the economy, experts and entrepreneurs said at the 1st World Emerging Industries Summit on September 1.
Zheng Xiongwei, an economist and the global executive chairman of the Asian-Pacific CEO Association (APCEO), said China is increasing its efforts in upgrading traditional industries while developing emerging industries and improving its modern industrial system.
"It's time for all countries to join hands and promote emerging industries," he told China.org.cn. "In fact, the low-carbon economy calls for new industries, like wind, solar electricity, and biomedicines ¡ª they can boost the development of our economy."
He said this summit will help China as well as other countries to maintain stable and moderate economic growth, push the transformation of development mode, and enhance international cooperation.
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin stressed that because of shortages in energy supplies and commodities the current model of global development is dead, which is causing massive damage to the environment.
The solutions require more efforts to develop and enhance green technologies. He said that renewable energies are one aspect along with fast development of wind and solar power around the globe.
The former prime minister said, "Traditional energy sources are now concerned by green technologies. For example, clean coal technologies are a key to power production in many emerging countries as it is the case in China."
He added that the shift from a low wage, export-oriented and resource intensive economy ¨C as is the case today in China and for the previous thirty years ¨C to a high-level, high-wage, resource-sparing economy should be the focus of all governments around the world.
De Villepin added, "It cannot be achieved automatically, and this is the main challenge for China as well as for the world."
Issues in China
China is the biggest producer in the coal-chemical industry. From January to November 2009, China produced 314 million tons of coal, up 8.2 percent year to year.
Wang Jian, secretary general of China Society of Macroeconomics, published an article in Outlook Weekly, saying that 17 industries in China were faced with excessive capacity in 2008, rising from 11 in 2005.
Now China is pushing forward with its low carbon economy by curbing overcapacity and boosting strategic emerging industries.
Li Ningning, a senior official from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, urged tackling the overcapacity problem in industrial sectors such as the coal-chemical industry.
Li said for China, as a country comparatively rich in coal but lacking oil and gas, the mature technology and low-investment threshold in the coal-chemical industry seem conducive to investment.
Yuan Longhua, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out that restructuring the coal-chemical industry involves eliminating outdated production capacity, supporting technological innovations and strengthening policy guidance.
To resolve the problem of overcapacity, Premier Wen Jiabao said the most important thing is to take economic, environmental, legal and administrative measures to eliminate backward capacity and, in particular, restrict the development of energy-consuming and polluting industries with excess capacity.
This year, the Chinese government listed high-tech, emerging industries: new energy, energy-saving, environmental protection, electric vehicles, new materials, information industry, new medicine and pharmacology, as well as biological breeding.
Emerging industries could not only bring about a low-carbon economy, but also help China tide over the financial crisis. According to a Xinhua report, Premier Wen said that the key to conquer the global economic crisis lies in people's wisdom and the power of science and technology.
He viewed the development of new energy, energy-saving, environmental protection and electric vehicles industries as the government's priorities among the emerging industries.
Figures from NDRC showed that by the end of 2008, China's energy-saving and environmental protection industries totaled 1.55 trillion yuan ($227 billion), accounting for 5.17 percent of the country's GDP. www.EnergyChinaForum.com De Villepin praised the effort of the Chinese government since 2007 to engage in the shifting of its development model, but he also said China is using a lot of coal for electricity. "But if you are going use clean coal, then it's going to be a major change for your country."(Edited by EnergyChinaForum.com. For more information, please email to: info@energychinaforum.com)
