Project Narrative

Since market reforms in the late 1970s, China‘s development has been rapid with the economy growing 10% almost every year. The country is now the 2nd largest economy in the world and the biggest contributor to global growth. This growth has pulled around 800 million people out of poverty. However, it has also brought about some new major concerns for the country. The energy demand today is 3.5 times higher than in 1990 and is largely met through coal, making China renowned for it‘s poor air quality. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, only 8 out of 74 major cities in China met the national standard for clean air in 2014 and the IEA predicts that the average life expectancy in China is reduced by 25 months as a result of poor air quality. Though the Chinese government has shown efforts to try and tackle air pollution for a long time, this is becoming an increasingly diffi cult task. China‘s best option to increase sustainability whilst still supporting it‘s economy is to increase the use of renewable energy sources. In 2016, the IEA measured China‘s installed power generation capacity and found that 20% is met with hydropower and a further 9% with wind power. Solar power is lower with a total capacity of 5% but there is potential to harness more power from this in northern, eastern and parts of south-eastern China.