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China's Green Revolution

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Riding a bicycle in Beijing is and what it used to be. Three decades

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of unbroken economic growth has transformed an agricultural

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backwater into the world paramount industrial power. But this

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extraordinary growth has come at a price. China has become the biggest

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emitter of carbon dioxide on the planet. And I have got something of

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a personal interest in China's CO2 emissions. Because five years ago,

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my family and I were ordered by my bosses at the BBC to undertake an

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extraordinary experiment. We were told to spend an entire year doing

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everything we could to try and cut our carbon emissions. I became the

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BBC's Ethical Man. We changed the way we heated and powered our home

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and we got rid of our car. They was difficult at first. Stop it, Justin.

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But we got used to it. We stopped flying and we took the train

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instead. But whatever we did, people said the same thing. "Don't

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bother because China's emissions are rising so quickly". But now

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I have come to China to find out whether the world's most polluting

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nation can clean up its act. First off, I have got a meeting

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with one of the architects of China's economic policy.

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TRANSLATION: When China's leader, Deng Xiaoping, was reforming the

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economy 30 years ago he said it doesn't matter what colour the cat

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is, as long as it catches mice, and China is becoming a black cat. It

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is the world's biggest energy producer, the second-biggest energy

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consumer and the biggest emitter of CO2. China is the biggest victim of

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this pollution so the big challenge for China is to change from being

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the world's biggest black cat to the world's biggest green cat.

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Professor Hu Angang says China aims to be nothing less than the world's

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first green superpower. TRANSLATION: China should not just

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participate in the global green revolution. China needs to lead the

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revolution. How do we do that? The answer is to transform our

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development model and become an innovator and that is what the

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Chinese government plans to. We will witness a new green revolution

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under the leadership of China. is the unjust and aspirations.

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Transforming China from a black to a green cat is now official

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government policy -- isms just an aspiration. I have come to

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Tiananmen Square for the biggest event in the Chinese political

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calendar. The National People's Congress. Delegates from across the

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country come to Beijing... many decked out in their traditional

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costumes. Have they come here to the Great Hall of the people for

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approving the Government's plan for this entire country's economy for

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the next five years. This is, of course, political theatre. The plan

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will be approved. Nevertheless, this is an important event. This is

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when China's leaders make their He is saying that the growing

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prosperity remains at the heart of China's plans over the next five

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years but he says growth must be sustainable, he is talking about

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cutting pollution and protecting the environment. He is talking

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about a five-year plan for China's Energy consumption and CO2

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emissions should the reduced by 16- We will effectively conserve

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resources and protect the environment. We will actively

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Not the sort of thing you would expect to hear from the Chinese

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Premier. But one of China's strengths is its ability to plan

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Its leaders know that in the future, securing the energy China needs

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from fossil fuels is going to become increasingly difficult and

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The problem is, the Chinese government has other even more

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These are the remains of break a wall even more ancient than the

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Great Wall of China and one thing has remained constant in the three

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millennia since this wall was built and that is the enduring poverty of

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China's leaders know that they need to continue to improve living

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standards across the country if they are to hold on to power so the

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key question is... whether it is possible to do this and to clean up

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They are quite a few people who believe it is and they are willing

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to back up that belief with their I have come here to one of the

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smartest hotels in Beijing to meet a group of businessmen who believe

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that China offers unique opportunities for cream businesses.

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So, I have been invited out to the A it shouldn't be a story of

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suffering and sacrifice, it should be a story of success, love,

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We have chose to be here because we see this as a place where the

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challenge and the opportunity is. China has emissions standards that

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are higher than in the United It is going to be the biggest

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You go to a conference in China, maybe 5% of the content is icebergs

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melting, yes, yes, but then they go, what are we going to do, how much

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have you got, how are we going to sell it? But in the West, 90% of

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the conference is about melting ice caps and did it not more than last

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year, it is not even part of the debate. It is all about necessity,

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they are not blessed with large energy resources to keep going in

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the future. It is all a question about sustained development. Of the

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crucial question is for you, can you make money during Green

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business in China? The estimate for China will be about $2 billion per

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year. Within that, we have a deal where we will take a 5% cut, that

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is $10 million per year for us potentially. There is definitely

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money to be made here and definitely making money is the only

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I have come here to China to find out if this could become the

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Hundreds of millions of people in China struggled just to make enough

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money to survive. They have left villages to work in China's vast

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energy intensive manufacturing centres making goods, most of which

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So one of Daniel's projects involves lending money to some of

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the poorest people in Chinese society because there are ways in

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which places like rural China can be lifted out of poverty without

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damaging the environment, one of which involves these things. Now

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the key to this process is how shall I put it... pig waste and I

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have got a bit of experience with The farmer, Mr Ram, has got me

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mucking out his pigs. It's a new venture for him. Before this, he

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just grew crops. So this stuff... This is pretty much like human poo.

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And they collect it all in a big chamber underneath the pen and when

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it rots down, they collect the methane gas. That's how it works.

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(gags) Oh, it's not very nice work, is it!

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More? I think I've got it all! Thank you very much. And so, the

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grass comes down through this pipe and down to the stove. Look at that.

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Good and clean gas. He doesn't just get free gas,

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though. He also gets to sell the pigs. TRANSLATION: Before, I earned

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a little more than $300 a year. Since I started raising pigs, I now

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earn close to $3,000. And I'm going to be able to knock down this old

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house and build myself a new one. And it isn't just the pigs. Mr Ram

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also gets paid to cut his carbon emissions. Now, because he isn't

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burning this stuff, coal, any more, he's saving a lot of carbon. And

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the idea is that projects like this will be able to earn an income from

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the carbon they've saved. They will get what are known as carbon

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credits that can be sold on the world carbon market. In fact, the

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income he gets from cutting his carbon dioxide emissions helps to

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pay off the loan he took to build the pen. Now, he earns as much as

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his son who works in a factory. The Chinese government has supported

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low carbon projects in many villages in China. But by Chinese

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standards, these projects are small beer. China already has the world's

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largest market for these things - electric bikes. And is a world

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leader in solar power. Seven of the world's top ten solar companies are

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Chinese. Last year, China overtook America to become the world's

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biggest generator of wind energy. It's been installing a new wind

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turbine every hour. In short, green technology is already big business

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in China. These are effectively the biggest solar panels in the world.

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They form the entire outer wall of the headquarters of the world's

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leading solar panel manufacturer, Sun Tech. Look at this place. Sun

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Tech started ten years ago and is already $2 million. It made me

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realise that when I was trying to be ethical, I should have thought

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of a bigger scale. What do you put the success down to? Big production

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and you know, with design, a Re liable and high-performance product.

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And, like China's other manufacturing businesses, he also

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benefits from low labour costs. But if incomes are going to rise, as

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China's leaders hope, then just making things very cheaply won't be

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enough. It will have to develop genuinely new products. 5% of Sun

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Tech's total revenue goes on research and development, but most

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of it is spent outside of China. Well, we have four centres around

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the world. One in Australia and we also have a research centre in

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Germany and one in Japan and also one in China. But the weight of

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your innovation comes from abrord. Three of your -- abroad. Throw of

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your four innovation centres comes from outside of China? Yes.

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China really is going to lead the world in green technology, it

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These toilets right in the shadow of the Imperial Palace are pretty

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innovative. They done use any water. They use the fluids that they

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receive to clear the bowl. Now, the company that backed these says that

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this is an original idea. But dig a little bit deeper and you discover

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that the first waterless toilets were developed in Canada. But

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according to a leading academic, China has a problem. It lacks a key

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ingredient of an innovative society, deviance. Professor Pi is a

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Professor of deviance. So what is a professor of deviance? Deviance is

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about breaking rules. TRANSLATION: Traditional Chinese society

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emphasises rules. There is relatively little space for

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innovation. That's because the Chinese education system is

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examine-or yenated and leaves little chance for Chinese --

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orientated and leaves little chance for Chinese students to have

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innovation. They spend most of their time reciting lessons. This

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is an important issue. For our economic development, we need

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innovation. But our traditional culture and our political structure

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absolutely don't encourage innovation. If this system doesn't

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reform, then our economy will not breakthrough the next barrier. --

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break through the next barrier. Though, there are increasingly

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large numbers of people within Chinese society who are breaking

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the rules. Aggie was a pop singer but she gave up her singing career

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to become a full time vegan campaigner. For the people in the

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West, it's easier to give them information because you can do a

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lot of things. You don't have a lot of restrictions. In China, it's

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like, more difficult to give them the information and they have less

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access to the information. Officials have repeatedly refused

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her permission to hold vegan campaigning events. Independent

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campaigning is not allowed in China. Gagging the revolutionaries seems

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an unusual way to lead a revolution. And the truth is that people who go

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against the grain, like Agi, are still the excemention in China.

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China's government has already unleashed a different kind of

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revolution, a consumer revolution. And it is encouraging people to

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pursue the kind of freedoms that Jason Yi enjoys. Jason is taking me

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for a spin around his dad's Formula 3 track in Beijing. This is where

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the petrol heads of the city come to put their prized cars through

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their paces. Jason drives a turbo charged Suburu with 410 horsepower,

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and he's just 15. Don't worry about me, though. Jason has been driving

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since he was eight. So, Jason, would you ever consider getting rid

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of your petrol car and getting an electric car? I will, but they're

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not making them good enough yet. I love my car. We've been together

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for seven years already. Jason's dad is, as you might have guessed,

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one of the new social class in China, the super rich. This isn't

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consist an. The government is now talking about green growth,

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sustainable growth. The vast industry is not consistent with

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sustainable growth, is it? GDP is still so important in China. 8% of

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the GDP growth per year. It is a top priority to maintain the

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stabilities in the economies. But in the design market, the pressure

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will go beyond this because everybody is looking for a better

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life with bigger cars and expensive cars and there's no consciousness

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of the fumes. China may sincerely want to be a green rather than a

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black cat. But it isn't actually proposing to cut its emissions. Its

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targets are about making industry more carbon and energy efficient.

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And if you look at China's forecasts, you see that despite the

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new targets, experts like Professor Hu estimate that emissions are set

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to double before they finally begin to fall away after 2030. China may

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