China Going Green

In the context of global economic crisis, coupled with environmental challenges due to climate change, ecological deterioration and water shortages, the time has come for a radical economic transformation. Various reasons could be contributed to the above crises, but it can be argued that they all stem from an overall misallocation of capital. In the past two decades, the majority of capital has flowed into areas such as real estate, fossil fuels and financial assets; in comparison, the amount of capital spent on renewable energy, energy efficiency, public transportation, sustainable agriculture, preservation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as conservation of land and water, has been dismaying. As a developing country, China faces the paradox of meeting its ever-increasing economic demands while minimizing the consequences of development on the environment — how does it to satisfy basic necessities (food, water, housing) for billions of people, while reducing the consumption of natural resources during production? How will it keep a balance between modernization and preserving traditional ways of life? How will it establish better technological cooperation? These are the questions we must ask in order to build towards a greener China.