Shared by CBCGDF | Asian Colleague Chandran Nair’s Latest Articles Selection (II)
2019/8/15 14:49:00 本站

First, China’s support for solar power are a major cause behind the plummeting cost of renewable energy, which will soon be competitive with fossil fuels. If countries want to decarbonize their economies, they will turn to Chinese solar panel manufacturers as their suppliers.

Another example is China’s investment in its high-speed rail network. China is today the world leader in connecting its major cities through high speed rail networks: again, something that countries will have to consider as they attempt to implement a program of sustainable development. In the field of mobility and reducing carbon footprints it can be the world leader in perhaps even creating the first hydrogen economy, as was indicated by former science and technology minister Wan Gang in his recent interview with Bloomberg.

All of these investments support a platform for sustainable development, the achievement of which is the true challenge of our time, and the essential framework of what a modern and civilized society should be. 

If China leads the way, it can then offer technology and investment to other countries that need to pursue a similar path. Chinese companies will thus be perceived as constructive partners — they would have to be, if countries were serious about navigating the real challenges they are being confronted with.

What might a “post-industrial, post tech strategy” for China look like? Such a plan could rely on terms that already exist in Chinese policy planning.

The strategy can fully embrace the idea of “ecological civilization”: developing innovations and technologies that will better allow China’s society to live within resource constraints. While the idea has a long history and has been fleshed-out in China, many people outside of the country likely see it as a buzzword. China’s long-term strategy should thus support sectors critical to this vision, from water conservation and food safety to reducing energy intensity. Reversing the damage from an effort to catch up to the West at any cost will take decades to undo. 

The strategy could also define what it means for a society to have “moderate prosperity”, a necessity for a large developing nation such as China. Clearly, such a definition would not simply be a standard of living that is “less than” the West’s, but one that is more suited to the opportunities, demands and constraints of the 21st Century in a country like China. 

The West currently defines prosperity in a resource-heavy, consumerist and unsustainable manner in which individual rights to consume are unfettered. This leaves the door open for China to propose something very different. After all: if someone can take the high-speed train from Beijing to Guangzhou, are they less prosperous or free than someone who takes a plane or drives a car for hours and burns all that fuel? 

One innovation that is sorely needed is a way to understand prosperity within hard resource constraints: can people live happily and comfortably without depriving the planet of resources? If China succeeds, this will boost its soft power as other nations in the developing world try to emulate it. 

China’s development strategy should look to resolving the global problems that will emerge in the coming decades, rather than use today’s Western-derived framings for success. Then China’s challenges to the status quo will be welcomed, rather than feared.  

Listings on the New York Stock Exchange is last century’s definition of success and has become a very clear trap. Time to move on.

The author is Founder and CEO of the Global Institute for Tomorrow. He is author of the “Sustainable State” and a Member of The Club of Rome.


图片.png

(Photo source: Internet)


图片.png

In October 2018, Rome, Italy, Mr. Nair (second left), Dr. Zhou, Professor Jorgen Randers and his wife during the 2018 Annual Conference and its 50th Anniversary Conference of the Club of Rome. (Photo credit: CBCGDF)


图片.png

(Photo source: Internet)


Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4937/9552.html


By / Niu Jingmei