Preservation and the excessive use of natural and environmental resources, coupled with high growth rates, are key global issues of concern for the future.

It is not only an ecological but also an economic task, which demands our attention.

Globalization and economic expansion of large developing economies - such as Brazil, India and China - clearly demonstrate that economic growth can be achieved with an increasing reduction of the use of environmental resources.

Using the issue of greenhouse gas as an example: This is especially important for China, as experts indicate that China will be seriously affected by the affects of global climate change. The European Union's carbon dioxide emissions per capita in 2005 averaged 9 tonnes per year.

The per capita emissions of the United States were 21.1 tonnes per year, whereas China's per capita emissions were only 2.3 tonnes per year.

With worldwide carbon dioxide emissions already beyond the limits of the planet today, it is clear: China and other developing countries cannot completely imitate the fossil energy model of Europe or even the United States.

Our common task is clear: To reduce worldwide greenhouse emissions. To this end, industrialized countries must considerably reduce their own emissions.

At the same time, all countries must co-operate more closely to increase energy efficiency and to enable countries like China to raise their share of renewable energy sources.

Widespread co-operation

Germany as a densely populated country with few natural and energy resources began to improve its energy efficiency and to actively develop alternative forms of energy in the mid-1970s.

Today, environmental technologies made in Germany have a world market share of 19 per cent, with 10 per cent of Germany's energy coming from renewable energy sources.

With more than 17,500 wind turbines installed in the country, Germany is the leading manufacturing base for this technology.

Therefore, Germany has tremendous experience in this field and it has been a consistent goal of Sino-German energy and environmental co-operation to leverage this know-how for the sustainable development of China.

This is why the German Government welcomes the energy initiatives of the Chinese Government. For example, it supports the Chinese Government's goal of raising the share of renewable energies in China to 15 per cent of its overall energy consumption by 2020.

And Germany has contributed to this goal since 2000 with various bilateral programmes and projects.

A project for the promotion of renewable energies in rural areas of Yunnan, Qinghai, Gansu and Tibet is a prime example.

Sino-German co-operation in this field also extends to the international level: The Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference (BIREC), held in late 2005, is a significant contribution to the further development of renewable energies worldwide.

It enhanced international discussions about the opportunities for renewable energies, which started at the "Renewables 2004," an international conference held in Bonn, Germany, in 2004.

China acted as a leader in promoting the idea that renewable energies are not a barrier but a basis for economic growth.

The German minister for the environment underlined during this conference the necessity of global co-operation for the global expansion of renewable energies - particularly to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and to prevent climate change.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is another efficient way to promote international co-operation in the reduction of greenhouse gases.

This is why a Sino-German memorandum of understanding on CDM which is currently under discussion would be a highly useful platform to promote bilateral co-operation, and initiate further projects between Chinese and German companies.

High-profile forum

To develop strategies for future bilateral co-operation in all fields of environment protection, the relevant ministries of both countries in 2000 held the Sino-German Environmental Protection Conference in Beijing.

This year, the second Sino-German Environmental Forum was held, bringing together many high-ranking officials and Chinese and German business associations in Qingdao.

The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) in China and the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Germany hosted the forum in co-operation with the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the German development agency GTZ and the city of Qingdao.

The participants discussed practical issues such as green procurement, green labelling, and the recycled economy.

Several German and Chinese companies arranged for joint environmental projects such as China's first offshore wind park off the coast of Qingdao, with five energy generators each with a maximum capacity of five megawatts.

Germany and China have also established a permanent support structure.

The Sino-German Programme "Policy Advisory Service and Environmental Management," a joint programme of SEPA and the German technical co-operation agency GTZ, running until the end of 2006, is comprised of four distinct components: Policy advising (such as China's WTO accession), environmental management for companies (such as training for executives in small and medium-sized enterprises in Tianjing and Guizhou), capacity building for officials (with training available in both China and Germany), and the introduction of quality management systems (such as ISO 14001).

Since this programme has evolved into an important hub for bilateral co-operation and knowledge exchanges, both sides plan to extend the co-operation in a new Sino-German Environmental Policy Partnership Programme, including NDRC and the China Council for International Co-operation for Environment and Development (CCICED) as additional institutional partners.

Lately, the Chinese central government has been pressing on with many initiatives on pollution control, environmental crisis management, and chemical management.

Consequently, the Sino-German Symposium on Chemical Management was held at the vice-minister level in Beijing on July 11 and 12 this year to address these issues and to introduce the new European Union's chemicals legislation REACH (policy for Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) as well as its consequences for trading partners of the European Union.

As a follow-up activity to the symposium, the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety will establish a working group with SEPA to intensify bilateral information exchanges.

The German Embassy in China

provided the story.

(China Daily 09/13/2006 page19)