Obama's Trip to China: a New Interest in Clean Energy and a New Spirit of Cooperation

As President Obama heads to China, it is important to recognize just how much has changed in the past year. For the first time ever, an American president is traveling to Beijing with the issue of climate change at the top of his agenda. This kind of focus would have been unthinkable during the Bush administration, but in the past 10 months, Obama has directed federal agencies and urged Congress to take real action on climate.

But that is only half of the story. The long-held belief that China isn’t doing much to confront climate change has now become on old news too.

Under the leadership of President Hu Jintao, China has taken bold steps to reduce its energy use. Yet one of the most interesting threads in this new China narrative is rarely told on this side of the Pacific: China’s private sector is as eager to make these changes as China’s government.

I saw it for myself when I went to China in September. Clean energy innovation was at the center of every conversation I had with Chinese business executives and the media, not to mention government officials (including China's lead climate negotiator, Minisiter Xie).

While I was in Shanghai, I attended a clean tech conference. It was co-sponsored by the local American Chamber of Commerce, so about two-thirds of the participants were Westerners, and the rest were Chinese. At the end, someone asked me, “Did you notice that the Chinese business people were here at the beginning of the conference, but they didn’t stay? They are more focused on action than on talking.”

The reason is obvious: there is enormous market potential here. A recent report estimated that the potential clean technology market in China in 2013 could be between $500 billion to $1 trillion. Meanwhile, China is set to become the world’s leading manufacturer of wind turbines this year, and is already the top producer of photovoltaic cells for solar energy.

This explosive private growth is no doubt inspired by government policy. China has set renewables targets of 10 percent for 2010 and 15 percent by 2020. It is also reportedly preparing plans to invest between $440 billion and $660 billion in the next 10 years on alternative energy development in what could be the largest government renewables program in the world--part of its effort to boost China’s clean energy industry.

America can no longer say we are waiting for China to move first before we act on climate solutions. The train has already left the station.

We need to set our own clean energy innovators in motion now if we want to keep the pace. We need to put our own clean energy policies in place, such as the climate legislation now before the Senate. As I explain in my new book, Clean Energy Common Sense, this will not only put us at the forefront of a global market, but it will also put millions of Americans to work.

Yet the truth is if China and America both work to expand clean energy technologies, this isn’t a competition. This is an opportunity where we can all win.

We will all benefit from making clean tech advances--whether they are Chinese or American--and from bringing cost downs for these new technologies. And of course, the whole planet will benefit from these two major polluters reducing their carbon emissions.

This is the new landscape in which President Obama and President Hu Jintao are meeting. Both nations have made their own efforts to confront climate change. Now it is time for us to work together on this global challenge.

While it is unlikely that President Obama’s visit will generate new commitments to cut emissions, Obama and Hu Jintao will probably agree to work together on a variety of efforts, including expanding energy efficiency, developing electric vehicles, building capacity to measure and report emissions, and even opening a joint clean energy research center that would employee both Chinese and American engineers.

This kind of tangible bi-lateral progress will help clear the way toward significant progress in Copenhagen and beyond. And that is what we need to see--momentum that will carry us over the long-term.

For as welcome as both China and America’s climate actions have been in the past year, they are only the beginning. Truly combating global warming will take sustained commitments from both of the world’s biggest polluters, and these efforts will be far more effective if they are done cooperatively.

 

This post originally appeared on NRDC’s Switchboard blog.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[teccoord]

Even for China ... so to be the greatest economic power in the World ... money makes the world go around and around and around. They are buying our debt to keep us floating so that we can buy their CRAP that the produce.

Poor food products. Dangerous toys. No telling what they put in our Clothes that we buy saying made in China. How about the toxic building materials for our homes and offices? Come on lets invest in America and Buy American products.

[jeanrenoir]

Tell that to the Wal-Mart shoppers. As usual, the problem is the American masses. They're too dumb to think of anything more complex than which store sells for less. The long-term consequences for them of "less" are way, way beyond their helpless grasp.

[BannedNBoston]

Without "RENEGOTIATING BAD TRADE DEALS" our economy will lag.
Obama isnt doing that.
We need legal hemp so we can have an efficient new textile and renewable bio-energy
market.
Hemp 6x more fiber than cotton.
Hemp 1,000 gallons of hemp diesel per acre. Canola 133 gallons per acre.

[Thirdcoastkites]

I've been approached by several wind/solar manufacturers from china...no­ne from the U.S. Now that is just anecdotal, but I was surprised by the aggressive marketing from Chinese manufacturers looking for retail market presence for wind and solar products.

http://www.thirdcoastkites.com
I have declined importing wind/solar products from China only because I'd prefer to support our state's (Michigan) wind industries. I applaud China's rapid transition to green energy, and as the population of the middle class grows, they are demanding a cleaner environment for themselves. I would say though to U.S. policy makers that if we fail to be as aggressive as China with regard to promoting green industries, jobs will continue to migrate eastward

[lbsaltzman]

Good article. China is poised to leap ahead of us in renewable, clean energy technology. We have to battle a rearguard action by the fossil fuel energy industry aided and abetted by most Republicans in Congress and some Democrats who are in the pay of the energy industry.

[VermontGirl]

You're exactly right "lb".
Our votes have a huge impact on whether we lead or follow in clean energy technology.
I, for one, use this as my number one factor in reviewing candidates.
The trickle down of clean energy technology is VAST.
Great for our planet, great for our economy(s). What a win-win.

The archaic Repubs and Dems need to be weeded out..it should be an easy sell knowing what we do about the technologies that exist TODAY.

[Spiky Kitten]

"New Spirit of Cooperation"

Spirits have have worked so well for us in the past.

[Mildmannered]

The Obama administration needs to help rebuild U.S. Manufacturing so we are not as dependent economically and security-wise to the Chinese, and so we can rebuild our middle class.

[ThoughtfulTom]

Hey what if they did that by stoking the green energy field? Then we could grow our economy in a sustainable way! Wouldn't that be hope and change?

[Spiky Kitten]

Yep take money out of the private sector and give it to your friends.