Trade and Climate Change - Foundation Office China
Event Reports
To what extend are different regions of the world polluters, but also victims of global climate change? How are international trade and climate change connected? How can government and companies limit the effects of climate change?
China is currently the largest emittant of greenhouse gases. Dr. HUO Jinguo, President of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, and Dr. LIU Xiying, Xiamen University, pointed out that with around 29 % of global CO2 emissions, China is one of the main drivers of climate change. However, the recent 3rd Plenum of the Central Committee announced new reforms to deal with emissions and climate change. And to be fair, a large part of China's emission is caused by export good as China still being the "the world's factory". This fact should, according to the speakers, be kept in mind in discussions on ecological balance.
In the field of climate policy, the EU has taken a lot of competences from the European member states within the last years, which Severin Fischer, Foundation of Science and Policy, Berlin, and Tobias Linnemann, adviser of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Brussels explained.
With its "Energiewende" Germany started a highly ambitious path for reforming its industrial society. But also problems and challenges are not solved, yet, for example, high costs of energy, which affects the competitiveness of Germany. The EU has itself set ambitious goals with its "20-20-20"-programm.
Nitya Nanda, TERI, an Indian environmental and energy think tank, New Delhi, presented the specific problems of developing countries at the example of India. Here, the focus is mainly on economic growth and energy security, while the awareness of environmental and climate change is growing only slowly. MIT-environmental economist Niven Winchester, Boston, analyzed the frictions in existing energy/climate protection regulations and mentioned the mesh of lobby interests in the U.S., which is preventing a more effective climate protection.
The second part of the conference served as a platform to give younger Chinese scholars and scientists the opportunity to present and discuss their latest research findings on environmental and climate policies to an international audience. Besides interesting insights into climate-related developments in China itself, demands were made for a new growth model. In this context Germany is regarded as a model for a successful energy transition.
But how should we march on into future? During a closing round table discussion the participants agreed that a dialogue between developed and developing countries and a "good environment of trust" (Nitya Nanda) must be developed. Only with fair global rules substantial progress is possible. However, there will remaing significant differences in the future, as developing and emerging countries demand the right to their own industrial development. Therefore we should think about mechanisms of technology transfer and other climate policy cooperation. Germany and China are already closely cooperating. With the planned introduction of nationwide CO2 emission certificates and massive investments in environmental technology, important steps in to a more sustainable economic growth, can been expected in China in the next years.
