U.S. + China = Climate Change Progress

Know Five Things

The clock is ticking for American-Chinese cooperation on climate change. Less than six months from the start of the conference aiming to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases are stepping up efforts to enhance cooperation. So here’s what you need to know.

1. Total spending for renewable energy. [CAP report]

• China invested $12 billion in renewable energy in 2007, placing second in the world in absolute dollars spent, just behind Germany.

• China is expected to unveil an extensive and unprecedented stimulus package (reported to be in the range of $440 billion to $660 billion) dedicated entirely to new energy development over the next decade.

• Overall, Chinaâ��s goal is to generate 10 percent of its electricity with renewable sources of energy by 2010, and 15 percent by 2020.

2. Renewable energy targets by sector. [CAP report]

• By 2020, China plans to tap wind power for 100 gigawatts of electricity, which is triple the original target; solar power for 10 gigawattsâ��a fivefold increase; and hydroelectric power by 300 gigawatts, twice its current capacity.

• In addition, China moved 40 million solar-water heaters into * Chinese homes in 2007, accounting for two-thirds of the global market demand, with a target of 30 percent of households by 2020.

• To encourage the use of renewable energy China distributed $435 million in subsidies between 2006 and 2008, primarily to support wind and biomass production.

3. Falling Behind

• U.S. Falls Behind: According to the most recent data from the Renewable Energy Policy Network, the U.S. invests less in renewable energy than China or the EU-25. The entire United States “invests less in renewable energy per year than the country of Germany, which boasts less than one-third the population of the United States and an economy less than one-fourth our size.” [CAP]

• U.S. corporations: In testimony in front of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, venture capitalist John Doerr pointed out, â��If you list todayâ��s top 30 companies in solar, wind and advanced batteries, American companies hold only 6 spots. That fact should worry us all.â�� [Senate Committee testimony]

• From CAP report “A Primer on Global Competition In Green Technology”: “The European Union has committed to 20 percent of final energy coming from renewable sources by 2020. China is working to have 16 percent of its primary energy come from renewable sources by 2020. Sixty-six other countries worldwide have committed to nationwide standards. But in the United States, the federal government has set no national standards.”

4. What Should We Do

• From CAP report “A Primer on Global Competition in Green Technology”: “President Barack Obama has proposed additional public investment in renewable energy research of $15 billion annually, paid for by charging dirty energy corporations for their pollution. While this would amount to just one tenth of one percent of Americaâ��s 2008 GDP, it would be a good start.”

• “With this money, the United States would finally join China and dozens of other nations across the world in providing public investment for renewable energy, including Japan, Germany, Canada, France, South Korea, Denmark, and Spain.” [American Progress]

5. What’s Next

• Copenhagen. An estimated 190 nations “will gather in Copenhagen in December to try to agree a global pact to fight climate change.” (Think of it as Kyoto II.) [Reuters]

• Conservatives in Congress are already fighting attempts from the U.S. to clean up its act. Think Progress reports, “House Republicans took to the floor for an hour-long series of speeches dedicated to attacking Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation. But in addition to doing the usual â�� misrepresenting an MIT study to claim the legislation would result in a tax and flaunting their skepticism of global climate change â�� the members of Congress decided to fire a volley of smears at workers doing green jobs as well.”

Smears:

• REP. JOHN FLEMING (R-LA): What we really get is a pass-through of taxpayer dollars that go into what I would call artificial – or I call them paper mâché jobs, so-called green jobs.

   

• REP. TODD AKIN (R-MO): The green jobs that are being talked about, weâ��re going to create all these green jobs. In Spain, they call them subprime jobs.

• REP. G.T. THOMPSON (R-PA): This is all in the name of green, greening America, specifically solar and hydro. But I have to – in terms of the economy, the other green that comes to mind is gangrene.

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