China is close to becoming world’s leader in the field of renewable energy, together with the United States, according to a report by the independent Australian-based Climate Commission, “The Critical Decade: International Action on Climate Change”, released on Monday.
The study presented an overview in the last nine months and showed that, although all the developed countries introduced policies to fight against climate change, China was at the forefront, “taking ambitious strides to add renewable energy to its mix”.
“China is accelerating action,” said Tim Flannery, the co-author and a key figure at the Climate Commission, which brings together internationally-renowned scientists, as well as policy and business leaders.
“China has halved its growth in electricity demand, dramatically increased its renewable energy capacity, and decelerated its emissions growth more quickly than expected. After years of strong growth in coal use, this has begun to level off. They are beginning to put in place seven emissions trading schemes that will cover quarter of a billion people,” he said, according to the international press.
The report added that China wanted “to position themselves as the world’s renewable energy leader”.
“Whatever the reason, the results speak for themselves. China is quickly moving to the top of the leader board on climate change,” said Flannery.
In 2012, the country invested $65.1 billion in renewable energy, 20 percent more than one year before.
