Chinese inertia stalls green revolution - Guardian

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Analysis
Chinese inertia stalls green revolution


Despite new rhetoric on climate change, China is unlikely to see any real
progress in environmental policies until its political system is overhauled

Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Monday March 5, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Prime minister Wen Jiabao issued an environmental wake-up call in his annual
report to the Chinese parliament today but it is unlikely to be heeded until
the country's politics are reformed.

-snip-

The prime minister is rightly applauded by groups such as the World Wildlife
Fund and Greenpeace for trying to make the Chinese economy leaner and
greener, but beyond warnings, his powers to effect change are limited.
When it comes to controlling economic growth, this authoritarian state
appears to lack authority.

Today, Mr Wen announced an 8% economic growth target for this year,
which would be a significant slowdown from the 10% plus rate of 2006.
Whether that cooling can be achieved is another matter. In recent years,
government estimates have significantly undershot the true pace of
expansion.

Similarly, the state's environmental targets for reducing emissions and
waste have proved overoptimistic. In both cases, the problem is that
despite Mr Wen's fine-sounding vow to focus more on the environment,
the priority of every government - central and local - is to boost
businesses and jobs.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2026980,00.html


(Reuters)

China's Wen stresses green growth, rural welfare

By Benjamin Kang Lim and Chris Buckley

Mon Mar 5, 3:34 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will do more to save energy and cut pollution
in 2007 while striving to keep its economy humming following four straight
years of double-digit growth, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday.

-snip-

"We need to greatly improve the quality and efficiency of economic growth.
We must attach greater importance to saving energy and resources,
protecting the environment and using land intensively ..." the premier said.

Yet Wen conspicuously made no mention of any drive to combat global
warming, even though China is on course to overtake the United States
as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases by 2009.

And while stressing a long-term commitment to cut energy use per unit
of output, his speech omitted a numerical goal for 2007. China fell well
short in 2006 of its target of a 4 percent cut.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070305/wl_nm/china_parliament_wen_dc