China / US sign environmental agreements

At the recent Forum on Environment and Development, Vice President Al Gore Gore and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji announced the series of agreements that will help open Chinese markets to US environmental technology, expand US investment in the Chinese energy sector, and take several steps toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions in China.

In an agreement that will accelerate the export of US environmental technology to China, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the Department of Energy, the China Development Bank, and China’s State Development Planning Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a $100 Million Clean Energy Program.

By funding the sale of US environmental technology to China, this program will accelerate the deployment of clean U.S. technologies in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and pollution reduction.

In an agreement that will move China closer to a system of emissions trading, the US EPA and China’s State Environmental Protection Administration signed a Statement of Intent on development of a Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) Emissions Trading Feasibility Study. The agreement calls for developing a study to test the effectiveness of emissions trading in China as a market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In an agreement that paves the way for the first-ever foreign investment in an on-shore natural gas pipeline in China, Enron Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a natural Gas Pipeline Project with China National Petroleum Corporation for the joint development of a natural gas pipeline in south central China. This pipeline would represent an important piece of China’s natural gas infrastructure and help offer a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.

The U.S. and Chinese delegations also concluded agreements involving energy efficiency, air quality management, cleaner air and cleaner energy technology, and the impact of pollution on children’s health.