EcoBlog

China has implemented several Five Year Plans (FYP) since 1953, and is currently within the 11th period (2006-2010). The following is a list of the near term objectives for the 11th period.

(1) To put in place a national (Science and Technology) S&T policy framework and coordination mechanism in response to climate change and to further improve the capacity of integrating S&T resources;
(2) To achieve internationally recognized research findings in key climate change areas;
(3) To develop and improve Chinese prediction, analysis, assessment and decision-making models on climate change;
(4) To advance research on key technologies for climate change mitigation and to launch pilot projects at local level and in industrial sectors;
(5) To make breakthroughs in the studies on the impacts of climate change on agriculture, water resources, costal areas, forestry, fishery, bio-diversity, desertification and human health and to implement demonstration projects on adaptation in typical vulnerable areas;
(6) To formulate the National Adaptation Strategy on Climate Change;
(7) To make China’s contributions to the design of international climate change regime;
(8) To build up highly professional research teams as well as research bases on climate change.

Over the past 55 years, China has achieved improvements in ambient air quality (e.g. lowering the concentration of SO2) and in decoupling emissions of SO2, NO2 and CO2 from economic growth. The emission reduction set out in the 9th FYP for SO2 and particulate were met and surpassed. It is also believed that they also met their 10th FYP but final statistics aren’t out yet. China has made some significant accomplishments along the way. A major accomplishment is that they reduced their dependence on coal from 63% to 30% over a 14-year period. They have also made major strides in the transportation department. In 2004 China put fuel-efficiency laws into effect that are similar to the European standards. Along with putting fuel-efficiency standards in place, China’s public transportation system has greatly improved. They have put a lot of work into adding new bus routes to major cities.

Even though China has made large strides in order to clean up their air, the large cities in China still have some of the largest air pollution problems in the world. One of China’s big problems is SO2 emissions, which dropped from 1990 to 2002 but now are on the rise again. Other problems include an increase of acid rain along with insufficient to reduce VOCs. Overall, China has increased their air quality since 1990, but in the past few years the progress has slowed or in some cases even reversed. Therefore the new 11th period FYP goals may not be very realistic.