China to Spend $27 Billion on Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency This Year

May 25th, 2012 by Zachary Shahan

Just confirming the easy bet Goldman Sachs is putting on cleantech (which I just wrote about), China is reportedly going to spend $27 billion this year alone on cleantech (energy efficiency and conservation, clean energy, and emissions reductions).

“The country’s finance ministry said it wants to promote energy-saving products, solar and wind power and accelerate the development of renewable energy and hybrid cars,” the Guardian reports.

Of course, this comes on the heels of a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) showing that China’s rapid growth was a key factor in bringing annual CO2 emissions up to a record and very concerning level in 2011, despite carbon emissions reductions in the US and EU. Nonetheless, as noted there, China’s carbon intensity has actually dropped 15% (from 2005 to 2011) due to its tremendous cleantech investments.

“In the long term, China is targeting to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45% by 2020, compared with 2003 levels and aims to boost its use of renewable energy to 15% of overall energy consumption,” the Guardian piece adds.

Images: Chinese Yuan & plant and Hong Kong via Shutterstock

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Tags: China, china carbon emissions, China Clean Energy, china cleantech, china energy efficiency, china renewable energy, quickies

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Captivation

I don’t remember much about playing checkers as a kid, but I do know that my favorite moves involved multiple hops across the board. This is exactly what China is doing now. They are not content to corner the market on low cost manufacturing, they are instead going after the bigger prize of being the Clean Energy manufacturers. Maybe in the West, we have been too focused on the chess board to see that a simpler and faster game is afoot.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  lol.