China’s Energy Intensity Cuts Good News for the Climate

In the run-up to the world’s leaders gathering in Copenhagen this December to negotiate a new climate treaty, there is plenty of talk, and even some action, from some of the world’s largest countries in addressing carbon footprints on a national level.

In the U.S. we had the House of Representatives pass the Waxman-Markey climate bill at the end of June, which aims to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020. And yesterday, China’s National Development and Reform Commission made an announcement saying that the country had cut its energy intensity — the amount of energy used per unit of GDP — by 3.35 percent in the first six months of 2009.

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  China’s massive stimulus spending on the environment, to the tune of about US$30 billion — appears to be having an effect. Reports AFP:CHINA cut its average energy consumption by 3.53 per cent in the first half of 2009 from a year ago…
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  Taking advantage of a slowdown in electricity demand, China has sped up a campaign to close small, inefficient coal-fired power plants, often considered a major source of the country’s pollution.
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  It’s been a good week for marine life. The House of Representatives emphatically passed two bills to protect sea otters and turtles. A New York Times editorial called…
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  The landmark American Clean Energy & Security Act(ACES, or "Waxman-Markey," as it’s commonly called after its sponsors,Henry A. Waxman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Edward J.

• Did China’s Stimulus Package Cut Its Energy Consumption?
• China Speeds Up Its Drive to Close Inefficient Coal Plants
• Michael Markarian: Aquatic Accommodations
• How Californians Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Global Warming
• Can U.S. Plan Entice Polluters into Early Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
• Weyerhaeuser Cuts GHG Emissions, Takes Steps to Reduce Energy, Water Use
• World Bank Initiates Carbon Footprint Analysis
• Another Report Calls Efficiency a Major Player in Future Emissions Cuts
• Putting The “Carbon Footprint” of Farming in Perspective
• Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy

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