Climate change and sustainable energy

UNDP works with leading national institutions like the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Environment Protection Agency to support improvements in the national policy frameworks to help achieve the goal of 20% increased energy efficiency by 2010. Improvements in end-use energy efficiency will account for about two-thirds of future GHG reductions, the single largest way to mitigate future climate change while also achieving China’s energy security goals. UNDP’s major focus is on facilitating partnerships with Chinese business, large-scale companies and town and village enterprises, to integrate innovative policies, practices and technologies into the most energy-intensive sectors in China - the steel, petrochemical, buildings, and rural brick-making industries. The End-Use Energy Efficiency programme is a $80million flagship programme to establish Voluntary Agreements with Chinese private sector to improve energy efficiency, and to support innovative financing for achieving the national 20% energy efficiency improvement target.

UNDP works with NDRC and partners to increase the pace of commercialization of renewable energy technologies and their use in various sectors of the economy. UNDP works with business partners and local government to establish model commercial operations for solar water heating production, solar and wind rural energy production systems, and large-scale biomass energy production systems. UNDP also supports design and launch of a new Rural Energy Strategy in China with Office of the National Energy Leading Group (ONELG) to establish a vision for future energy provision towards 2020 to achieve both energy security and social development goals.

Special attention is placed on Rural Poverty Reduction and Renewable Energy programming to support the use of renewable energy in poverty reduction programmes in Western China, with special focus on building local capacities to link renewables to the power grid, and to expand use of biomass solutions. Special attention will also be placed on sustainable urban transport, with support for design of a National Roadmap for Fuel-Cell Vehicles and piloting on fuel cell buses in public transport systems for Beijing and Shanghai.

The consequences of global warming are emerging and the impacts of climate change are already being felt in China. UNDP support will help in particular the poorest and most vulnerable regions and communities in China to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change through developing and implementing provincial strategies and associated actions and measures. While new national policies have been enacted to set the vision and overarching direction for climate change mitigation and adaptation in China, more work is needed to translate such policies into on-the-ground action. To this end, UNDP supports efforts in seven key provinces to implement China’s National Climate Change Strategy and take action on the findings of the recently issued National Climate Change Impact Assessment Report.

Apart from our support through the GEF, one of the key ways UNDP supports implementation of the UNFCCC is through the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism. With the support of bilateral and private partners, UNDP has provided support to the National Climate Change Coordinating Committee of NDRC and local CDM market partners since 2001 to design China’s national CDM law, market analyses and CDM projects. This resulted in the design and brokering of China’s first Kyoto CDM projects in 2005, and the capacities built in China are now supporting China’s supply of over 50% of the world’s CDM credit supply.

On-going Project(s): 10

Full Project Title: China End-Use Energy Efficiency Project

Project Cycle: 2005-2010
Budget(USD): 80.375 Million
Contributions(USD):

GEF:       17,000,000
Government:31,350,000
Private
Sector:    32,000,000

Delivery(USD):

2006:3,109,747
2007:3,507,502
2008:3,503,296
2009: 4,282,066

Implementing Partner: National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
Project Sites: Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangdong(Shenzhen)
Project Manager: Liu Shijun