What will you be speaking about during your upcoming visit to India? I will be talking about water-energy-food confrontations in China, offering comparisons with similar trends in the U.S., Australia and India, where we have also worked with Circle of Blue to do water-energy-food
Jennifer Turner
www.wilsoncenter.org/staff/ jennifer-l-turner
reporting. I will talk about the pollution challenges in China, but I will also highlight some of the impressive shifts that are occurring in China to really address the problems. What lessons can India draw from China’s experiences of dealing with environmental challenges? China and India face many similar challenges—big population and massive and growing energy hunger. India is now the number one importer of coal. It is striking that China is where we are seeing a push to unseat “King Coal” and shift away from the “pollute first/clean up later” mentality. There are clearly plenty of enforcement gaps in China, but it is encouraging to see how the pollution problem has pushed some very promising reforms, such as information transparency and decisions to make local officials more accountable in delivering on pollution targets. I am looking forward to having conversations in India to learn more about the energy-pollution dynamics there. Steve Fox is a freelance writer, former newspaper publisher and reporter based in Ventura, California.
POLLUTION
Is the international community engaged with China in addressing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions? Yes, China has been expanding bilateral programs with the U.S., Europe and other countries to address pollution and energy challenges. Very important have been the U.S. environmental and energy NGOs and foundations that have worked to help build the capacity of the government, researchers and NGOs to improve policies, regulations and transparency around pollution and energy issues. They likely played a key role in helping the government take some very impressive steps to shift the economy to being more energy-efficient and dependent on cleaner energy. China has now committed itself to limit coal consumption. Public pressure to fix the air pollution problem is pushing this as well.
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Left: Jennifer Turner at a panel discussion on the Chinese environmental documentary, “Under the Dome,” which racked up over 175 million online views within 48 hours, at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
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