论中国 | 中国推动低碳发展 探索绿色转型之路

Editor's note: A green and low-carbon economy and society are crucial to China's high-quality development. To reach the carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060, China is transitioning to a model of green development. What are the challenges confronting China? And what opportunities will the green economy bring? In China Talk, Leslie Maasdorp, vice president and chief financial officer of the New Development Bank shares his views. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

编者按：中国式现代化是人与自然和谐共生的现代化。中国要力争在2030年前实现碳达峰，2060年前实现碳中和，这是一场广泛而深刻的经济社会系统性变革。作为最大的发展中国家、世界最大的制造业国家，要实现“双碳”目标，中国做了哪些努力？又面临着怎样的挑战？绿色低碳发展将带来哪些新机遇？新开发银行副行长兼首席财务官马磊立为我们带来他的观察和思考。内容仅代表作者观点，而非本台观点。

Good day and welcome to China Talk. My name is Leslie Maasdorp, vice president and chief financial officer of the New Development Bank, also known as NDB, and sometimes referred to as the BRICS bank.

大家好，欢迎收看《论中国》。我是新开发银行副行长兼首席财务官马磊立。新开发银行又称“金砖银行”。 

I've been very fortunate to be part of the bank since the inception when we were a startup way back in 2015. Arriving in Shanghai, I've been lived there for the last 7 years. I've personally seen and experienced how, for example, the quality of air has been improved.

非常幸运的是，从2015年银行成立之初，我便是其中一员。我已经在上海生活了七年。在这个过程中，我也见证并亲历了很多，比如，很多项目有效改善了空气质量。

Now, China set itself a very ambitious objective, way back in 2020 when President Xi Jinping spoke to the UN General Assembly and committed the country to reach 2030 peak emissions and carbon neutrality by 2060.

早在2020年，中国就设定了雄心勃勃的目标。习近平主席在联合国大会上承诺，中国力争于2030年前实现碳达峰，2060年前实现碳中和。

And since then, this has been elevated as a national strategic goal for China. And it is now embedded in the decisions and the policies and the metrics of local government officials of the provinces and throughout the various government departments. This is a very ambitious objective, because China is still a developing country. It is still rapidly urbanizing. It is expanding its infrastructure rollout. In this process, it could potentially add to its emissions footprint. There will be significant challenges ahead as it seeks to stay on the course of this mandate to reach peak emissions by 2030. 

自此，中国将双碳目标升级为国家战略目标，并将其纳入各省政府官员和部门的决策及政策制定维度。这是一个远大的目标，因为中国仍然是一个发展中国家，仍在快速推进城镇化，基础设施建设规模不断扩大。这一过程可能会增加其排放足迹。因此，在努力实现2030年碳达峰目标方面，中国面临着重大挑战。

At the same time, China has demonstrated significant leadership in the climate arena. As we know, the country is still very much dependent on coal as its principal source of electricity generation, because China is really the production hub, the manufacturing hub of the world. Many of its leading industrial sectors, steel, cement, chemicals, and so on, depend on fossil fuels and are reliant on the coal fire power generation.

与此同时，中国正在成为应对全球气候变化的领导者。我们知道，中国仍然高度依赖煤炭作为主要的发电燃料。中国是全球制造业中心，钢铁、水泥、化工等重要工业部门都依赖化石燃料和燃煤火力发电。

So China's transition to a low carbon economy will require a massive shift in resources. It will require a massive shift in innovation, in new technologies to enhance the energy efficiency and resource productivity. This is where development banks play a very critical role, development banks like ourselves, Asia Infrastructure Investment bank, Asia Development Bank, and so on.

中国经济的低碳转型意味着彻底转变能源结构。这需要大力推动创新，采用新技术，提高能源效率及资源利用率。这正是开发银行可以发挥重要作用的领域，像新开发银行、亚洲基础设施投资银行和亚洲开发银行等都可以有所作为。

Now China has been on this journey for some time. This is not something that only took place since the Paris Agreement. For the last 20 years, China's dramatically increased its footprint of renewable energy. Today, as you might know, China is a global leader in electricity production from renewable energy sources.

近年来，中国一直在探索绿色转型之路。这可不是《巴黎协定》达成后才发生的事情。过去20年里，中国大大提高了清洁能源的使用。众所周知，中国当前已成为可再生能源发电领域的全球领导者。

Already, the World Bank estimates that China has created around 54 million green jobs with more than 4 million in renewable energy alone. In short, what I'm suggesting is that there will be significant opportunities emanating from this revolution. Some universities, for example, like Chongqing University, have set up green training programs for companies in sectors dealing with the environment, social and governance needs. But there's still a significant talent gap in the long run. And I believe that this is an area of significant opportunity for new talent and those of you (who) are there, starting your own businesses or starting to work for the first time, the green economy presents massive opportunities.

世界银行估计，中国已创造约5400万个绿色就业岗位，其中仅在可再生能源领域就有超过400万个。简而言之，我认为这场变革将带来重大机遇。例如，国内众多高等院校，像重庆大学，设立了绿色培训计划，面向从事环境、应对社会和治理需求的相关企业。但长期来看，该领域仍存在重大人才缺口。新一代人才和刚开始创业或就业的人可以在此大显身手。绿色经济带来了重大机遇。

For many years, as I mentioned, China has been the world's largest investor, producer as well as consumer of renewable energy. More importantly, there's now a recognition, as I've highlighted, that climate change is a massive investment and business opportunity, so the private sector can play a significant role in delivering market-based solutions in stimulating new technological innovation. And in some cases, some of these technologies are still in production. Battery storage is a very good example. There is so much innovation happening in that domain that there will be new scientific breakthroughs that will create new opportunities for us to store energy. In this regard, the financial sector has a vital role to play to enable and to make sure that we design new financial instruments to fast track this clean transition.

多年来，中国一直是世界上最大的可再生能源投资国、生产国和消费国。更为重要的是，如前所述，现在越来越多人认识到气候变化是巨大的投资和商业机会，私营企业可以提供市场化的解决方案，刺激新的技术创新。在一些领域，技术在不断发展迭代。电池储能就是一个很好的例子。这个领域创新活跃，新的科学突破不断涌现，为储存能源带来新的机会。因此，金融部门要发挥作用，设计新的金融工具，加快全社会向清洁能源转型的步伐。

(It is) critical for policymakers to examine what additional measures, policy, regulatory forms, what else needs to be put in place to tap into the potential of the private sector. There's no question that the government on its own and the public sector cannot address this massive transformation. We need the capacity of financial institutions to mobilize large volumes of capital from the private sector to enable and finance this important transition.

政策制定者需认真考虑，要采取哪些补充措施、政策、监管形式和其他手段来发掘私营企业的潜力。毫无疑问，仅依靠政府和公共部门是无法完成这场浩大变革的，我们需要借助金融机构的力量，调动民间的庞大资本，为这场重大转型提供融资支持。

Way back in 2016, China hosted the G20 in Hangzhou just outside of Shanghai. It was a very important year because it was also in this year that the Chinese Yuan became part of the five global reserve currencies. And the People's Bank of China importantly, introduced The National Guidance on Building a Green Financial System. What's required now, though, is for this to be further refined, to have much clearer targets and policy metrics so that we can accelerate the process of greening the financial system here in China.

早在2016年，二十国集团领导人峰会在离上海不远的杭州举办。那是非常重要的一年，那年人民币正式成为全球五大储备货币之一。此外，中国人民银行还发布了《关于构建绿色金融体系的指导意见》。现在要做的是进一步细化措施，设定更加清晰的目标和政策指标，加快建设中国的绿色金融体系。

Significant progresses have been made, but there's still a lot that needs to be done. In short, what I'm suggesting is that the financial sector, both domestically in China and also internationally, has to play a fundamental and leading role to help with this multi-year and multi-decade transformation. China will also gain significant value from studying, doing a detailed, comprehensive analysis and then reproducing the best practices from around the world.

虽已取得重大进展，但前路依旧漫长。我建议，中国国内外金融机构充分发挥基础性与引领性作用，推动完成持续数年、甚至数十年的转型工作。通过研究和详细全面的分析，以及借鉴全球最佳实践，中国也将从中受益。

Talking about best practices, I was absolutely struck by visiting the Kubuqi desert a couple of years ago and to see how that area has been transformed. What was completely barren desert before now has huge amounts of renewable energy, solar power that has been generated. They reforested and planted sort of trees again. It was an absolute fascination for me to see the self-driven vehicles, drilling holes, planting trees, watering those trees without a single human being being present. All of those vehicles were being controlled remotely from a control center. But in that desert, more than 100,000 people live in that area, as a consequence of the greening of that area. And it has won the United Nations award as part of its green innovation projects.

谈及最佳实践，几年前我到访过库布齐沙漠，被这个地区的转变所震撼。昔日荒芜的沙漠中如今遍布新能源发电设施，通过太阳能源源不断发电。生态修复也在进行。我被那些自动驾驶车辆所吸引，它们完成钻洞、种树、浇水等任务，不需要人在现场。所有车辆都由控制中心远程操纵。经过绿化改造，如今超过10万人生活在那片曾经是沙漠的地区。这里被联合国环境规划署确立为“全球沙漠生态经济示范区”

In conclusion, as a bank, we are inspired by the idea of replicating projects like what I've seen in the Kubuqi desert, which is about using modern technology, reproducing, multiplying, and also testing and experimenting, because you cannot overnight create projects of this size. This green transition also requires a process of learning by doing, walking, touching the stones, as the famous saying goes. As a bank, New Development Bank together with our peer institutions, this is our commission. And this is what excites us waking up in the morning to go to work, to contribute towards the building of green infrastructure. Thank you.

综上所述，作为银行，我们深受库布齐沙漠等项目的启发，希望将其推而广之，利用现代科技，将项目进行复制推广，不断尝试和试验。大型项目的建设绝非一日之功，绿色转型也需经过实践得出真知，需要摸着石头过河。新开发银行将与同行机构共同肩负起这项使命。这激励着我们不断努力，为绿色基础设施建设作出贡献。谢谢！

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