Setting the pace

SHANGHAI: In the long run, China may well lead the world in providing environmental protection solutions, says Tony Clark, counselor of Trade and Investment Promotion, Embassy of Sweden, at the China International Water Supply & Drainage and Waste Water Treatment Exhibition (WSDWTF) held recently in Shanghai.

The counselor heads a delegation of nine Swedish companies that specialize in environmental technologies on a promotion tour at the annual exhibition. The companies are looking for potential Chinese partners with whom they can work in developing localized environmental technologies.

Environmental solutions

"For Western companies seeking opportunities in China's fast developing environmental industry, technology export can only provide a short-term solution," says Clark. "In the long run, the West may well be dependent on China to deliver environmental solutions given the potential of the market here," he adds, citing human resources and R & D outsourcing capability as the major strengths of Chinese companies.

"Since the establishment of (Sweden's) diplomatic relations (with China) in 1950, environmental protection has been the core element in our relationship," says Clark, adding that China is an important partner for Sweden in the fields of sustainable development and combating climate change.

Earlier last month, the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications and the city of Tangshan in China's Hebei province issued a letter of intent to build a 150-square-kilometer eco-city to support Tangshan's sustainable development. Construction is expected to begin this August, says Clark.

As China has made environmental protection a national priority, the potential of the Chinese environmental industry is gaining increasing attention from the international community.

The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) places the environment and energy efficiency as priority targets. Statistics from the Policy Research Center at the Ministry of Construction show that during this period 600 billion yuan will be spent on the development of water supplies and drainage systems within the country.

In addition, more than 1,000 new waste-water treatment plants will be built in China. There are also great opportunities for the development of new projects such as seawater desalination, recycled water and wastewater treatment.

Sophie Diebold, project manager for the energy and environment sector under UBI France, the French Agency for International Business Development, says that more small and medium sized environmental companies in France eyeing expanding into the Chinese market or building up their presence here.

"Currently there are more than 100 French companies in China dealing with environmental issues," says Diebold. "And I can see more are keen to come in the near future."

Chinese companies are becoming increasingly active in taking the initiative to attract foreign investment and even setting the trend in integrating global environmental resources.

Under the joint efforts from the municipal government of Yixing, a county-level city within Wuxi, as well as the China National Center for Quality Supervision and Test of Environmental Protection Products, a multi-functional industrial platform covering all the links of the environmental industrial chain has been launched. Its range extends from R & D, processing and production, trade and logistics, to product exhibition and promotion.

With an investment of 1 billion yuan, China Yixing International Environmental Protection Science and Technology Zone (IEPZ) has a total construction area of 400,000 sq m. The first phase of the project, a 140,000 sq m trading market and research building, is expected to be completed in October 2008.

More than 1000 research institutions, funding agencies, environmental monitoring and accreditation bodies and international environmental associations are expected to set up their research centers and representative offices at the center, says Wen Deyou, operation director of IEPZ.

(China Daily 05/03/2008 page4)