Towards a cleaner, and more efficient China - The Nation

Home ? opinion ? Towards a cleaner, and more efficient China

china business weekly

Suwatchai Songwanich
Chief executive Officer,
Bangkok Bank (China) October 1, 2012 1:00 am

The new plan further reinforces China's determination to transform the way it develops its economy, protect the environment and achieve sustainable development, with three broad strategies.

China will firstly look to adjust and optimise its industrial structures through the curbing of excessive growth in high-energy consumption and high-emission industries. It will also promote upgrades to traditional industries, the service industry and emerging strategic industries, and adjust public and private structures of energy consumption.

Its second broad strategy is to improve its energy efficiency. It will attempt this by focusing on the industrial and public sectors, advancing energy-saving efforts in the construction and transportation industries, and better promoting energy saving in the agricultural, rural, commercial and civil sectors.

Its third broad strategy is to reduce emissions of major pollutants - urban sewage, industrial/agricultural polluters and automobiles.

Each of these strategies looks to achieve a number of specific goals by 2015:

- Reduce energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP to 0.869 tonnes of standard coal. That is a 32-per-cent decrease from 1.276 tonnes when the goal was set in 2005.

- Save 670 million tonnes of standard coal in the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

- Decrease total COD and sulphur dioxide emissions by 8 per cent from 2010 levels.

- Decrease total ammonia nitrogen and nitric oxide emissions by 10 per cent from 2010 levels.

These goals are certainly impressive. Implementation is the challenge, and herein lie excellent opportunities for Thai businesses in the clean energy sector, such as:

- Energy-saving solutions for the construction sector.

- Home energy-saving projects and recycling programmes for general consumers.

- Best-practice models for industrial energy-saving technology.

- Projects relating to the construction of urban sewage-treatment facilities, or for the

- prevention and control of water pollution.

- Solutions to prevent and control livestock/poultry breeding pollution.

As well as opportunities, there is also the risk that companies failing to keep up with this strong environmental emphasis will be left out. I would therefore encourage all Thai firms interested in doing business in China to read the latest plan carefully and consider ways to include it in their own business planning.

Latest stories in this category

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Towards-a-cleaner-and-more-efficient-China-30191403.html

mindy mccready mindy mccready cliff harris cliff harris josh turner barnaby barnaby