The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China is the voice of European Business in China. It was formed in October 2000 by 51 founding members, with the support of the Delegation of the European Commission in Beijing. Today the Chamber is proud to represent over 1100 European businesses, from leading European multinationals to SMEs, in seven cities across China.

The core of the Chamber are the 30 Working Groups. Among these “30” there are the Energy & Utility Policy Working Group, Environment Working Group, Petrochemical Oil and Gas plus CSR Working Group. Members of these Working Groups comprise the largest European energy and equipment companies as well as companies in other sectors such as automobile manufacturing, petrol chemical, chemicals, oil and gas. They are all well aware of the climate change and China's sustainable development requirement and associate these issues with the engagement and efforts of the member companies in China.

The Chamber firmly supports the 11th Five-Year Program, which emphasised the focus of the Chinese government on promoting a people-centered and environment-friendly approach to development. We welcome the fact that China has promulgated many laws to improve energy efficiency and environmental protection. It has been reported that China is working on a “white paper on energy policy”, which is in line with the recommendations in our 2006/2007 Position Paper. However, the challenge is that these need to be enforced in an open transparent manner with equal treatment for foreign and Chinese companies. We have also supported visits by PRC Government and State Companies to EU on sharing best practices and experiences in clean energy and Sustainable development.

Environmental legislation and regulations exist in China but consistent nationwide implementation of environmental regulations for products and industrial/energy facilities should be enhanced and given priority. The biggest obstacles to environmental policy implementation are at the local level. Economic priorities tend to still over-ride environmental concerns. There is a need in China for stronger monitoring, inspection and enforcement capabilities to establish a better mix of incentives and sanctions.

The European Union tends to be strong in environmental issues and can offer best practice and expertise to local companies. In this regard, European companies in China are ready to assist China improving the environment and have relevant technology to support this. The direct involvement in assisting China achieve its objectives extends also to manufacturers supply chain and European companies actively encourage local suppliers to introduce best practice.

Therefore we would like to take this opportunity to suggest that in order to achieve the energy saving targets of 2010 and beyond, it will be necessary to assume best industry practices; renew outdated technologies and replace energy-inefficient devices. To this effect, the Government should actively promote the use of energy benchmarking in the energy intensive industry in order to determine where the most energy could be saved.

On the regulation side, the Chamber is also supportive of a new tax law under consideration for environmentally friendly companies, and we believe we can contribute to this development and look forward to participating in these discussions.

By EU Chamber of Commerce in China