development of clean and low-carbon energies, including hydroelectric, nuclear, wind, and solar power."
Government authorities have closed small, coal-fired plants with a total capacity of 60.06 million kilowatts in the past four years. This year's target of closing 10 million kilowatts of capacity will be achieved by August.
"We have promised to the international community that 15 percent of our power will be generated from nonfossil sources by 2020," Director Zhang said. At present, non-fossil energy accounts for only
7.8 percent.
China is making efforts to increase the proportion of clean energy in its total energy consumption. Statistics show that China invested US$34.6 billion in clean energy last year, exceeding the United States which invested US$18.6 billion. Thus, China has become the world leader in generating clean energy. Five years earlier, China's investment in clean energy was only US$2.5 billion.
However, China's carbon emission reduction target cannot be achieved easily. The shift to a low-carbon economy might be met at a cost to society. For instance, more than 400,000 people were laid off as a result of the shutdown of small coal-fired power plants in the past four years. Many studies indicate that the effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions may delay China's development, affect