The Current and Future Trends in Chinese Environmental and Energy Law and Policy

Abstract

In the period from 1979 to 2003, the yearly average growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in China was 9.4 percent, and at the same time sixteen of the world's twenty most air-polluted cites were in China, according to the World Health Organization. China recently moved into second place (behind the United States) among the world's largest energy consumers. China is by far the world's largest coal consumer, devouring almost 40 percent of total global coal production annually. Oil demand is also surging within this decade. Now, China has become the third largest oil importer in the world (after the U.S. and Japan). China's current greenhouse gas emissions rank second in the world, lagging only behind the United States. The World Bank estimates that China's greenhouse gas emissions will surpass the U.S. by the year 2015, ranking China first in the world. Also, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), China's emission of carbon dioxide, the main by-product of fossil fuel combustion, which is regarded as the chief pollutant implicated in global warming, is likely to surpass the U.S. as the world's number one carbon dioxide emitter within two decades. As a responsible country, China is the contracting party of UN Framework of the Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC ) and The Kyoto Protocol. The trends of China's environmental and energy law and policy have attracted and will continue to attract the attention of the countries around the world. Therefore, I would like to offer the following ideas on how to judge the current and future development trends of China's environmental and energy law and policy.