Linking China’s climate policy to its growth
Over the next three decades China’s growth will be such that if its leaders don’t act on climate change, it might not matter what the rest of the world does, Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Spence said in a Harvard talk Tuesday. Spence, a New York University professor who served as dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1984 to 1990, pointed to several environmental and energy factors to consider alongside China’s rapid development. Population growth is controlled, and per-capita income is expected to continue to rise, which usually coincides with a decrease in the energy intensity of an economy. Further, there is great opportunity to engage in sustainable construction in China because so much — buildings, electric grids, even cities — is still in the planning stages. The pressing question is whether China will take advantage of opportunities to shift from high-carbon fuels, such as coal, and curb the clouds of...