The international community faces many major challenges today. One of the key ones is to ensure industrial development does not create a serious threat to the environment and to health, through climate change, water pollution, or land contamination. Industrial development must be sustainable not only in economic and social terms but in environmental terms as well.

The China Daily CEO roundtable showed that there is a clear understanding of this issue in many quarters in China. World leaders in any number of business sectors are willing to stake their reputations on their environmental performance. Foreign governments, international organisations and NGOs are taking the lead with innovative projects and research. The Chinese government and population have a growing awareness of what is at stake, and are getting involved. This convergence of opinion gives us an unprecedented opportunity for concerted action.

The European Union is not waiting for others to take action on climate change. Even before negotiations on a global agreement start, the EU leaders have agreed that the EU will make a firm, independent commitment to reduce emissions by at least 20%, versus 1990 levels. This must be achieved by 2020. The EU commitment is also intended to send a clear signal to the private sector that we are serious about moving towards a low-carbon economy and are banking on the future of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. This will provide the long-term certainty that industry has been asking for.

What the ideas put forward at the roundtable showed is that there is a great chance for private action and for public-private partnership to fight climate change and promote sustainable development. The companies that attended had knowledge to offer on energy saving in construction, lighting, industrial production, air traffic and refrigeration, as well as clean energy technology like wind power or alternative fuels for automobiles. What was made clear is that the public sector must do its part to create the right conditions for these ideas to flourish, especially in China.

China has recognised the importance of energy efficiency by setting the objective to reduce energy consumption by 20% per unit of GDP by 2020. The EU is ready to help, particularly through our dialogue in the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change. The EU also supports China through technical cooperation programmes on Energy and Environment, Biodiversity Protection, Forest Managment and River Basin Management.

The European Union and China are looking ahead, working together on groundbreaking Clean Coal Technologies and a Near-Zero Emissions Coal plant (NZEC). Beyond this, the EU has formulated an ambitious plan to conceive a European Sustainable Energy Centre in China, as a contribution to better dialogue, research and cooperation by China and the EU on energy issues. Primary focus areas for the Centre would be sustainable fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency. It could also clearly help create the right atmosphere for public-private interaction as discussed in the roundtable.

What is clear is that we must increase our knowledge and action in mitigating and adapting to climate change and environmental hazards. We must communicate that economic growth and a healthy environment are not mutually exclusive, but that we have to do more in order to effectively combine the two. This applies as much for China as anywhere else. Above all, the right incentives must be created for energy saving and mitigating pollution – this includes revising rules on investment and approval processes, proper implementation and enforcement of environmental standards, and possible market-based mechanisms. Through such measures governments can encourage the private sector to go even further in the vital fight against environmental degradation.

By Dr. Michael Pulch
(Deputy Head of Delegation, Delegation of the European Commission to China)