Two thirds of the articles are about environmental incidents in China over the last year, and some are drawn from the previous year, 2008. “Recording the rocky road from Beijing to Copenhagen”, says the book’s cover, and its theme is climate change. The volume documents the evolution of China’s climate-change policy over the last year, as well as action taken by Chinese businesses and people.
China Daily’s editor-in-chief, Zhu Ling, says in his preface: “China is constantly being accused of being the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Of course, there are different aims behind these accusations, including the desire of some nations to shirk their own responsibility. Only a few nations are able to speak fairly and say that China’s per-capita emissions are lower than developed nations’, and that China is taking measures to reduce carbon emissions.” But he also adds that “this book does not aim to claim that all is well”.
Whatever the legacy of the Copenhagen talks, Evolution of Green China shows what China has done so far.
Evolution of Green China
Zhu Ling (editor)
New World Press, 2010
— By Huo Weiya