China Environmental Law

The SED 4 concluded on Wednesday and as expected, the United States and China “signed a Ten Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework that sets goals and lays out concrete next steps.” Click here for the US Treasury Department’s Fact Sheet on the Framework.

The two countries announced the following four steps as part of their larger cooperative efforts in the environmental and energy fields:

• Creation of the Ten Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework and signing of the Agreement.
• Announced five initial goals to be addressed under the Framework.
• Announced the establishment of five task forces to develop action plans focused on concrete cooperation for each goal, with the aim of completing all of these action plans by the next SED meeting.
• Initiated discussions on exploring the concept of EcoPartnerships by the next SED meeting.

Task forces have been identified for each of the five initial goals. Curiously I have not been asked to participate; can they really have recruited the best talent? Here are the five initial goals with “highlights from the initial task force discussions”:

1. Clean, Efficient, and Secure Electricity Production and Transmission

Preliminary discussions have focused on steps both countries can take together to address electricity supply and demand challenges; and in the power generation sector, an efficient diversification of energy resources. Potential areas of collaboration include Renewable and Alternative Sources of Clean Energy, Clean Fossil Fuel, Power Grid and the Electricity Market, and Nuclear Power.

2. Clean Water

Targeted initial areas of cooperation for the Clean Water action plan include water quality management; provision of safe drinking water; and prevention and control of pollution from agriculture and rural areas. Cooperative work in these areas will include design of an overall framework of U.S.-China cooperation on clean water; an evaluation and analysis of clean water policies, and assessment and promotion of transfer of clean water technologies; study programs; and performance evaluation of the study programs.

3. Clean Air

Both countries will build upon the agreement reached at SED III to implement an SO2 emissions trading program for China’s power sector, through integration of this program into China’s regulatory system.

4. Clean and Efficient Transportation

Preliminary discussions have focused on four broad areas: 1. Clean and efficient vehicle technologies; 2. Design and modality of transportation systems; 3. Clean and alternative fuels, including next generation (cellulosic) biofuels; and 4. Improvement and utilization of existing transportation infrastructure.

5. Conservation of Forest and Wetland Ecosystems

The United States and China will focus on two major areas: 1. Enhanced cooperation on wetlands conservation and management; and 2. Enhanced cooperation on the establishment and management of protected areas, including wildlife conservation.

Other environmental/energy issues addressed during Round 4 as set forth in U.S. SED Fact Sheet include:

Eliminating Barriers to Trade in Environmental Goods and Services: Discussions in this area began at a broad level, and are now focused on the scope of product coverage and on the modalities for tariff reduction or as appropriate elimination, to facilitate a comprehensive WTO agreement on environmental goods and services.

Cooperation with the International Energy Agency: Building on the commitment at the third Cabinet-level SED meeting to strengthen cooperation on construction and management of strategic oil stocks, China agreed to consider voluntary participation in the joint actions of IEA member countries during times of oil disruption, in line with the principles of the Five Country Ministerial and G8 Plus 3 energy ministerial agreements in Japan. Coordination with the IEA during times of oil disruption significantly increases energy security both globally and for the United States. China also agreed to strengthen collaboration with the IEA on areas such as global energy markets, energy efficiency, and clean energy technology.

Sustainable Forest Management: The United States and China have agreed to promote global sustainable forest management, with both sides identifying specific regions and activities for joint cooperation by the next meeting of the Cabinet-level SED.

Illegal Logging: The United States and China convened the first meeting of the bilateral forum under the Memorandum of Understanding on Illegal Logging

I haven’t had time today to ponder these developments, but I am glad to see the proposed SO2 trading scheme seems to be limited to the “power sector” which if handled correctly may be workable.  The efforts devoted to improving the Power Grid and preventing and controlling pollution from agriculture and rural areas are also welcome. As always, the devil is in the details, so I hope to get my hands on a copy of the actual Framework.