China pledges clean energy development, deployment

According to the Renewable 2016 Status Report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), new annual investment in renewable power and fuels reached $4285.9 billion in 2015, the largest annual increase ever, and China is the world's largest investor, followed by the US, Japan, the UK and India.

Global investment climbed to a new record level in spite of the plunge in fossil fuel prices and other factors, noted the report. For the sixth consecutive year, renewables outpaced fossil fuels for net investment in power capacity additions.

It's important for the clean energy sector to understand that financing clean energy is the key, said Steven Chu, former US secretary of energy, adding that financing is the key to bringing electricity to rural areas.

"China is very serious about diversifying its energy and getting new energy on the market," he said, showing a map of world-leading high-voltage lines in China. "They have just begun construction of a 3,200-km 1.1 MW DC line which loses only 5 percent of its energy."

"By comparison, the majority of high-voltage lines in the US are below 500 kilovolt AC and 85 percent of the power would be lost if it was transmitted over that distance," he said, while encouraging the policymakers to learn from each other.

China has carried out all tasks and measures to meet the requirement of Mission Innovation and play an active and responsible role in implementing the initiatives, said Wan in the video. "China is ready to share the best practices with other countries," he added.

Launched in 2010, the first CEM was hosted by the US in Washington. Next year's CEM8 will be held in Beijing. Together, the 23 member countries and the European Commission account for about 90 percent of the world's clean energy investments and 75 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions.

Contact the writer at liazhu@chinadailyusa.com.