Independent Study

Day 1 of getting my act together:
4/28/11

Today I read an article by the Deutsche Bank Group, one of the world's leading financial institutions, called 12th Year Plan, Chinese Leadership Towards a Low Carbon Economy published fairly recently on April 4th, 2011.

China's Five-Year-Plan (FYP) is revised at five year increments and serves as the most important blueprint detailing China's near future development, growth, and direction. This article very concisely delineated the major points within China's 12th FYP (2011-2015) and especially highlighted the plan's stress on clean energy and sustainable development. The article lauds the Chinese government for its high goals and tremendous financial investment.

What I find most interesting about this article is that while congratulating China, the writer representing Deutsche Bank, a German financial institution, also purposefully compares it to the “stalled efforts at the US Federal Level”. They could have been alluding to several recent events, may it be the doom of the American Power Act, a bill that would have created a carbon trade market with in the US but ultimately failed in the senate, or and the more recent budget cuts coming out of the House such as as the HR1 bill that slashes the EPA's budget by 30% and also prohibits the EPA from monitoring greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The article goes on to excitedly proclaim, “gone are the days when commentators expected US carbon policy to lead the way for China to join a decarbonizing world! Rather, it is now China who is preparing for carbon markets by 2013...”
The message of this article reminded me of a point Thomas Friedman evokes in Hot Flat and Crowded (one of my all time favorite books in case you haven't noticed), which is the relationship between world leadership and leadership in sustainability. Friedman urges the US to take on the challenge of green leadership because he sees it as the single most effective way for the United States to improve America's international image, rejuvenate the American economy, and revive American exceptionalism all in one move. He writes in his chapter “Can Red China become Green China?”, “Leadership is not about “after you”. It's about “follow me”...the greatest thing that America could do today for itself, China, and the world is become an example of a country that grows prosperous, secure, innovative, and respected by becoming the greenest, most energy-efficient, and most energy productive country there is.”

Instead of leading the green movement, the US is, as Deutsche Bank puts it, “stagnant”. In the meanwhile, China is making the bold moves that Friedman is advocating for. If indeed leadership in sustainability is connected to world leadership, perhaps becoming green will be China's claim to ascending superpower-dom. At the end of the day, at least one of these two countries will need to do the right thing. If its not going to be the US, let's hope it's China.