Foreign Policy Blogs

China's Renewable Exports

On Clean Energy, China Skirts Rules was a front-page story at the NY Times this past week.  The gist:  China is cranking up its exports of wind turbines and PV, eclipsing other leaders like the US and Germany.  However, they’re doing it largely on the strength of subsidies illegal under international trade agreements, namely the World Trade Organization’s rules.

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I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t ambivalent about this news.  That China is building out this significant renewable energy manufacturing infrastructure is music to my ears.  I was speaking with a prominent climate scientist and activist for a writing project I’m on, and we agreed that, given the parlous state of the climate system, it’s a wonderful thing that so many renewable energy units are being built and bought, no matter who is building them.  This flies somewhat in the face of the perfervid protestations of prominent pundits like Tom Friedman and Joe Romm that the Chinese are going to “eat our lunch” on renewable manufacturing.  Friedman went so far as to characterize the Chinese Communist Party leadership as “enlightened” because of their support for this sector.  (Friedman seemed to ignore the fact that the PRC is a police state.  I called him on that and the Grey Lady saw fit to print my response.)

A prominent manufacturer featured in the NYT story justifies the subsidies.  “Mr. Zhao said that whatever the global trade rules might be on export subsidies, the world should appreciate the generous assistance of Chinese government agencies to the country’s clean energy industries. That support has made possible a sharp drop in the price of renewable energy and has helped humanity address global warming, he said.”  He’s mocking, no doubt, but there’s more-than-a-little truth in it.  We really do need every wind turbine and PV panel we can get.

On the other hand, of course, the Chinese do have a well-documented disregard for the international rules on these things.  I wrote about China, Climate and Trade early this year.  Their performance in Copenhagen was shameful and as no less a commentator than Paul Krugman has pointed out their mercantilist policies are “predatory.”  The NY Times further reported on the case filed by the United Steelworkers accusing the Chinese of these illegal subsidies.  The NYT story says “The filing, by the 850,000-member United Steelworkers union, accuses China of violating the World Trade Organization’s free-trade rules…”

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I’m not glad that the US has not yet maximized its presence as a source of clean tech manufacturing for itself and the rest of the world.  I hope it will continue to build its infrastructure.  There is ample need.  There is in fact a desperate need for renewable energy, and our 9.6% unemployment rate cries out for high-tech design and manufacturing.  We are wasting time and money with nuclear power and CCS.  At the same time, though, if the Chinese can produce cost-accessible renewable technology for export, then we should be glad of it.  If we can get them to do it in a manner that is more in keeping with their responsibilities as a member of the WTO, all the better.  In any event, the export of clean tech infrastructure is a lot more useful in the long run than high-carbon products.  What the Chinese also very much need to do, as the first article suggests, is use more and more renewables at home to cut down on their massive carbon footprint.

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

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