This year, the Australian Carbon Market Expo attracted 100 exhibitors and 800 delegates from 20 countries around the world. Reading like a roll call of visionaries, entrepreneurs and innovators, the business world collided with scientists and academia. This created a highly charged atmosphere that seemed to generate enough energy (and at times hot air) to power the Gold Coast for at least a decade.
Everyone was eager to peer over the fence and see what the next guy was offering. Alliances were formed, opportunity touted, and opinions voiced about how the playing field would emerge on a global scale.
A topic of great interest was that of the role China looks set to play in the new carbon economy. Although western nations are keen to profit from the shift to renewable energy, it looks increasingly likely that the winners will be those countries where legislation can be rapidly passed.
When giants such as China get the political will to make a decision, they have the ability to implement it with alarming speed. This could very well see them overtake the developed world in terms of securing the market for new technologies, the formation of carbon neutral societies and ultimately, how Emissions Trading Schemes evolve and operate.
It is estimated that China will build up to 500 new coal-fired power stations in the next 20 years. Despite this, they are busy knocking down old coal plants and putting up top-shelf, GE-type equipment in highly efficient plants. In short: China is taking action and stands at the very vanguard of clean coal development and renewable energy production.
China sees renewable energy as a strategic industry for economic growth and is not sitting there waiting for the developed world to lead the way. While democratically-elected politicians squander precious time watering down measures and making the climate a political issue, Chinese manufacturers are working hard to ensure they dominate globally.
China has built the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing industry and is the world’s largest market for wind energy. Six wind farms - each with a capacity of between 10,000 and 20,000 megawatts – are reportedly in the process of being built.
While those who remain concerned with emissions from developing nations celebrate, Western manufacturers are crying foul. They accuse Beijing of employing green protectionist measures and cite a ruling that almost entirely banned the installation of wind turbines that do not have a minimum capacity of 1,000 kilowatts, (effectively excluding 850-kilowatt European designs).
As with all paradigm shifts, there will be winners and losers; a global reshuffle is likely to see level playing fields tilt and we will all have to find new comfort zones and ways to do business. But if anything was to be learned from the ill-effects of the financial crisis which so mired 2009, it that business health – and that of our environment - is inextricably globally connected.