China's new climate policy providing valuable lessons worldwide

In what some might consider a surprising development, China - currently the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide - is emerging as a global leader in climate policy as it seeks to build a cleaner and more efficient economy. Indeed, China's efforts to curb pollution and environmental destruction, while shifting to a more sustainable growth model, can provide valuable lessons for governments worldwide.

The first step towards sustainable economic growth is to recognise, as China's leaders have, that pollution - produced largely through coal-fired power plants - is profoundly damaging citizens' lives and livelihoods, particularly in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Moreover, greenhouse-gas emissions are contributing to climate change, the effects of which, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns, could prove devastating for all countries, with China highly vulnerable.

Moreover, China is already the world's largest oil importer, and energy demand continues to increase rapidly.

In this context, the authorities' effort to accelerate the shift of China's growth model to one that is more innovative, inclusive, efficient, and sustainable represents the only feasible way forward. The good news is that some progress has already been made.

China is now the world's largest investor in clean energy, with a record US$68 billion channelled towards renewable-energy development in 2012 and another US$54 billion last year. Furthermore, its non-fossil energy supply more than doubled from 2005 to 2013 while the carbon dioxide intensity of gross domestic product fell by 28 per cent.

But much more needs to be done. Fortunately, China's government recognises the need to pursue more stable, higher-quality GDP growth. At the same time, given slower growth in world markets and the challenges of domestic structural adjustment, the annual growth target has been reduced, to around 7.5 per cent.