Global environmental organization Greenpeace says projections of energy consumption in China and India, released by the International Energy Agency, fail to adequately incorporate options for substantially expanding renewable energy and improving energy efficiency in either countries.
According to the IEA's figures, carbon dioxide emissions for both countries combined could more than double to 14.7 billion tons by 2030, about 55% of the current global emissions.
"The IEA's projections are likely to be seized upon by the likes of US President George Bush and Australian PM John Howard to argue that they do not need to act until India and China take on binding commitments to cut CO2" said Sven Teske, energy expert at Greenpeace International. "To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, all countries urgently need to act."
Greenpeace wants urgent international action to kick-start a revolution in how the world produces and consumes energy in order to avert a climate catastrophe.
Teske's work for Greenpeace shows that making wide-ranging investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies could stabilize carbon dioxide emissions from China's and India's burgeoning economies and return carbon dioxide emissions to current levels by 2050. But successfully combating climate change also requires industrialized countries to rapidly reduce their CO2 emissions 30 per cent below the 1990 level by 2020, instead of the 15 per cent emissions increase shown in recent projections in the IEA's World Energy Outlook.
The Energy Revolution scenario for China shows that the country's current target for energy efficiency gains by 2010 is a good move towards more sustainable development. Recent reports, like the Chinese Wind Report 2007 launched last week in Shanghai, show that more ambitious targets for both wind and solar energy in China are possible. Greenpeace wants the Chinese government to raise and implement targets for renewable energy and improving energy efficiency in order to limit the growth of energy consumption as China continues to develop.
