China Environmental Law

I’ve expressed my lack of enthusiasm for some of the more well-known environmental groups operating in China recently, so let me now issue a “pat on the back” to a group whose work I admire in China: the Natural Resources Defense Council  (unfortunately its acronym NRDC is easily confused with the acronym for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) which always has me saying one when I mean the other). This group does not go for the quick headline, but has chosen to focus on areas where it can be most effective in solving some of China’s most pressing environmental problems and capacity deficits. As its website notes: “with estimates that global warming pollution from China is about equal to that of the United States and that 36 percent of total mercury in the United States comes from China, our common environmental fate has never been clearer.”

Current NRDC project areas include:

Improving the Energy Efficiency of Chinese- Made Products

With Chinese manufacturers dominating many world markets, improvements in the energy efficiency of products made in China can deliver benefits in the United States and across the globe. For example, more than 75 percent of external power supplies — those black boxes used to convert incoming AC power to the DC power needed by electronics — are manufactured in China. Unfortunately, most of these power supplies are relatively inefficient; NRDC estimates that the United States could reduce its electricity consumption by 1 percent to 2 percent simply by moving to more efficient power supplies.

Working on the first-ever joint project between the United States and China to coordinate the testing methods and performance measures for a product, we helped establish a single worldwide specification for external power supplies that has been adopted on a voluntary basis in China, Australia, and the United States. In the next few years, this specification will become mandatory for all external power supplies sold in China.

Spurring a Shift to Greener Buildings

NRDC was the first international environmental organization to establish a clean energy program in China, and over the last decade, our team of experts has helped China develop clean, efficient, and affordable environmental strategies. This year, NRDC’s eight year partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory led to the development of China’s first national commercial building energy-efficiency standard, which will require all new commercial buildings to cut energy use by 50 percent. We’re also making sure that residential buildings meet aggressive environmental benchmarks by setting energy standards for two of China’s three major climate zones: the Transition Zone, which covers the entire Yangtze River Basin, and the southern Cooling Zone, which includes Guangdong Province [Canton], China’s fastest-growing economic region. And because we know that setting standards is only half the battle, NRDC is working with Shanghai- and U.S.-based partners to ensure that these groundbreaking standards are properly implemented.

Promoting Energy- Saving Technologies

The cheapest, easiest, and fastest way to reduce the staggering pollution from China’s power plants is to increase energy efficiency. That’s why NRDC and the China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance are working to develop incentive programs, known as demand side management (DSM), that will help China improve its efficiency. We helped organize the first DSM forum in China, bringing together representatives from national and provincial government agencies and utilities to discuss energy saving opportunities. Research shows that DSM programs — which allow utilities to use a portion of their revenues for rebates and other incentives to encourage customers to take advantage of energy efficiency — could meet up to half of China’s forecast load growth over the next decade. Moreover, these efficiency “negawatts” can be deployed rapidly and typically cost one-quarter to one-half as much as investments in traditional power supplies.

Pushing for Cleaner Cars

Private car sales have been surging in China, leading to increased global warming pollution from emissions and greater oil dependency for the nation. NRDC has been making sure that more cars on the road doesn’t come at a steep environmental cost. In Shanghai, we have successfully encouraged the formation of a public-private partnership for clean vehicle commercialization, a relatively new concept for China. The founding members of the partnership include Chinese subsidiaries of major multinational automakers, as well as Chinese companies and academic institutions. Formally launched in October, this nonprofit partnership is already hard at work organizing forums and seminars, supporting college students conducting an energy policy research project, and building China’s first hydrogen fueling demonstration station in Shanghai.

Strengthening the Law and Increasing Public Participation

In 2007, the Chinese government began developing an overarching energy law that will provide the foundation for more specific energy laws and regulations. Recognizing this unique opportunity for promoting sustainable energy policies in China, NRDC teamed up with the China Sustainable Energy Program of the Energy Foundation and the Law School of China’s Tsinghua University to provide recommendations for this groundbreaking law. Encouragingly, the draft version of the China Energy Law released in December 2007 has given energy conservation and efficiency the highest priority and included general provisions on low-carbon fuels, renewable energy, and public participation in energy decision making.

To encourage and empower the public to claim its place in the movement, our staff in Beijing — including Jingjing Zhang, dubbed the “Erin Brockovich of China” by the Atlanta Journal- Constitution — is working with local partners to conduct legal training for NGOs, community groups, and journalists. This year, we also helped develop and launch China’s first online resource devoted to environmental public participation (www.greenlaw. org.cn). The website arms citizens with how-to guides to getting involved, along with localized information about their region’s environmental initiatives.

They have achieved tremedous success with limited staff and funding. In addition, as the picture here attests, they seem to be a very happy lot. I like that! They hardly need my approval, of course, but I provide it in any event just to show that I am not a complete curmudgeon.