China Can Attain Rapid Growth And Low Emissions Under Renewables Plan

The Chinese economy could grow 10 times larger than it is today and still sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions if the country aggressively embraces renewable energy and receives help from the West with carbon sequestration and other sophisticated technologies, according to a new report. Britain’s Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research says that the Chinese economy could expand between 8 and 13 times by 2050 yet cut greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently so that global atmospheric CO2 concentrations would remain below 450 parts per million, an upper limit recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. To rein in its emissions, China — the world’s largest source of greenhouse gases — must wean itself from coal and adopt a host of renewable energy technologies, develop energy-efficient homes and transport for consumers, and receive large-scale financial and technological help from wealthy nations to employ carbon capture and storage, the Tyndall report said. If China embraces such a sweeping plan, its CO2 emissions would peak between 2020 and 2030 at about double today’s levels, and then decline by roughly 90 percent by 2100, the report said.