Political

Al Gore: China is more concerned about the environment than the west

Al Gore speaks at the Engine GroupLast week Al Gore came to talk at the Engine offices (the group of companies where I work). As befits someone whose interests have roamed over many areas, his comments covered a broad range of the challenges we face in coming years.

What most caught my attention were his views about how seriously China is taking environmental issues:

Cross-national public opinion polling shows that the Chinese people are more aware of the climate crisis and more focused on solving it than the people of practically any other nation in the world.

The Chinese government too is taking the issue seriously according to Al Gore, and he pointed to the way in which the government allows free discussion of climate issues in the country’s heavily controlled media. He also pointed to the Chinese government’s record in promoting green technologies such as solar power, highlighting a story in the New York Times which said,

China’s aggressive tactics are making clean energy more affordable. Solar panel prices have dropped by nearly half in the last two years, and wind turbine prices have fallen by a quarter — partly because of the global financial crisis but mainly because of China’s rapid expansion in these sectors and the accompanying economies of scale. Large Chinese wind turbines now sell for about $685,000 per megawatt of capacity, while Western wind turbines cost $850,000 a megawatt.

The question is whether China is building this industry in ways that are unfair to overseas competitors and make other nations overly dependent on a Chinese industry whose approach to the business may not be economically or politically sustainable.

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