Qingdao Initiative for a "strategic partnership in environmental protection"
The second Sino-German Environmental Forum bringing together some 300 participants from politics, business and science was opened in Qingdao today. In his opening address, State Secretary Matthias Machnig highlighted the common environmental policy approach of both countries: "The Chinese and the German governments pursue an environmental policy that also contributes to the modernisation of economic policy." The Chinese Deputy Environment Minister, Zhu Guangyao, stressed that Germany was "China's best partner in the field of environmental protection." China would give "top priority" to projects of German enterprises.
In a declaration entitled "Qingdao Initiative", the Environment Ministries of both countries underline their intention to further develop their bilateral environmental cooperation into a "strategic partnership". Both sides are aware "that sustainable energy development and effective use of resources have a direct influence on the economic development of all countries". Machnig stated that only those economies that adapt in time to the challenges caused by climate change and to the necessity of energy and resource efficiency could prosper in the long run. "China and Germany will embark on this path together. Both sides can gain significantly through this strategic partnership."
The main focus of the Forum is on cooperation in the field of sustainable energy supply, in particular the increased use of renewable energies. China has advanced the expansion of renewable energies in an exemplary way, above all through the feed-in law and ambitious expansion targets: The country wants to increase the share of renewable energies to 15 per cent of overall energy consumption by 2020. Wind energy is to be expanded to 30 gigawatts over the next 15 years. That is thirty times current capacity. China is already the market leader in the solar hot water sector with 60 percent of global installed capacity. Thanks to renewable energies, China has provided access to electricity for one million people in remote regions in a period of only three years - an important condition for overcoming poverty.
Further topics of the conference are resource efficiency, circular economy and the development of sustainable consumption and production patterns. The Chinese side is very interested in state-of-the-art environmental technology that is being developed and offered by German companies.
The Environmental Conference in Qingdao also serves as a meeting point for German enterprises and Chinese clients to initiate and arrange joint environmental protection projects. Several agreements on the implementation of projects were signed in the framework of the conference, including agreements on two biogas plants of RUHL, a company from Rhineland-Palatinate, a wind park of RePower Systems AG from Hamburg and a production plant for solar energy products of the Sino-German joint venture Phocos AG.
The first Sino-German Environmental Forum took place in Beijing in 2003. On the German side, the follow-up conference in Qingdao was prepared by the Federal Environment Ministry, the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Environment Ministry (SE-PA) in cooperation with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the City of Qingdao were involved on the Chinese side.