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Environmental Performance Review of China - Videoconference Presentation: Brendan Gillespie, Head of the OECD Environment and Globalisation Division Discussant: Jennifer Turner, Director of the China Environment Forum, Woodrow Wilson Center

The event took place on Tuesday, July 17, 2007
OECD Washington Center
2001 L Street NW, Suite 650, Washington DC 20036
9:00-10:00 AM Presentation, 8:30 AM Registration

Event Description:

Brendan Gillespie, Head of the Environment and Globalisation Division at the OECD, presents the findings of the OECD’s first ever Environmental Performance Review of China.

Over the last 15 years, the average rate of economic growth in China has been around 10% per year. China now has the fourth largest economy in the world. China’s rapid economic growth, industrialization and urbanization have generated high pressures on the environment, with consequent damage to health and natural resources. Key findings of the report include:

• China has modernised its environmental regulations--in some cases up to OECD standards-- but the environmental efforts lack effectiveness and efficiency resulting in an implementation gap.
• The Chinese government is promoting a structural shift towards a "harmonious society", with a recognition at the highest level the urgency of addressing its environmental problems.
• Air pollution levels in some of its cities are among the worst in the world, and one-third of water courses are severely polluted with consequent damage to human health, ecosystems and the economy.
• China is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gase emissions and is the world’s, but on par capita basis, it is still 1/5 to 1/3 of those of OECD countries.
• China is the largest producer and consumer of ozone-depleting substances. Since 1995, China has significantly reduced production and consumption of these chemicals by more than any other country.
• China’s energy intensity per unit of GDP is about 20% higher than the OECD average.

This report examines environmental progress made by China since 1990, evaluates the extent to which the country’s domestic objectives and international commitments are being met, and gives recommendations that could help strengthen China’s environmental performance in the context of sustainable development. 51 specific recommendations are made, based on the same review methodology used for environmental reviews of all OECD countries and building on more than a decade of OECD-China co-operation.

In his presentation, Mr. Gillespie will discuss the recommendations of the Environmental Performance Review, which include the following:

• Strengthen implementation of environmental policies--including monitoring, inspection and enforcement capabilities -- particularly at the local level;
• Promote a shift to an economic structure that is more energy-efficient and less resource-intensive by better integrating environment into economic and sectoral policies;
• Implement more ambitions air emission reduction targets capable of achieving ambient quality objectives,
• Review price levels for energy, water and other natural resources so as to better reflect their scarcity value;
• Increase investments and management efforts in urban water supply and sanitation and other environmental infrastructure;
• Bolster the adoption of cleaner fuels;
• Further improve health and living standards, particularly in less developed areas, by reducing the share of people without access to safe water, basic sanitation, and electricity; and
• Continue China’s active engagement in international environmental cooperation, seeking to improve the effective use of domestic resources and international support mechanisms.

Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center, will provide comments on the report.

Biographies:

Brendan Gillespie is Head of Environment and Globalisation Division of the Environment Directorate, OECD. Mr. Gillespie joined the OECD in the Chemicals Division of the Environment Directorate in 1979. In 1986 he was assigned to the Director's Office in the Environment Directorate where he served as Special Assistant. In 1991 he was appointed as the Head of the Non-Member Countries Branch. During this period he helped draft the Environmental Action Programme for central and eastern Europe (EAP) and set up the Task Force which was established to facilitate its implementation. OECD serves as the secretariat for the EAP Task Force. Mr. Gillespie has coordinated OECD's programme of environmental cooperation with China for the last 10 years, and was part of the team that prepared the OECD Environmental Performance Review of China. He was recently invited to serve as Co-Chair for a Task Force established by the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development to examine how environmental targets in the 11th 5 Year Plan can be achieved.

Jennifer Turner is the director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Besides putting on meetings and publications focusing on a variety of energy and environmental challenges facing China, she has coordinated several research exchange activities in China, the United States, and Japan bringing together Chinese, U.S., Japanese, and other Asian experts on issues of environmental nongovernmental organizations, environmental journalism, river basin governance, water conflict resolution, and municipal financing of environmental infrastructure. She also serves as editor of the Wilson Center’s journal, the China Environment Series. Her most recent publications include co-author (with Kenji Otsuka) of a Wilson Center report: Reaching Across the Water: International Cooperation Promoting Sustainable River Basin Governance in China and Co-author (with Lü Zhi) “Building a Green Civil Society in China.” State of the World 2006. Washington, DC WorldWatch Institute.