“Building China into a beautiful homeland with a sound ecological environment” was one of the nine major tasks for 2014 laid out by Premier Li Keqiang in his work report at the second annual session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC). However though China’s leadership is clearly committed to fixing its complex sustainability problems, the country will move to address the issues in a way that considers the needs of its people first, says CEIBS Visiting Professor of Sustainability Richard Brubaker in a paper entitled “China and the Climate Change Debate” which was published by the Thunderbird International Business Review in February 2014.

“The recent announcement by China’s Premier Li Keqiang that China will wage a war on pollution once again reaffirms the fact that China’s interest in improving its environmental footprint will not come from international pressure to address issues of climate change and global warming, but from China’s own need to secure the resources needed to fuel its economy and minimize the impact of pollutants being emitted locally,” Prof Brubaker says.

China’s sustainability issues are largely tied to economic development and Prof Brubaker says that as China shifts its economic development model away from a reliance on manufacturing, the transformation process will spark innovation across many sectors, including those linked to sustainability such as clean energy (wind and solar), transportation (batteries for cars) and water equipment (municipal and household). Prof Brubaker discusses in his paper some of the opportunities this presents for foreign investors and the potential roles that NGOs can play. He says that firms and policymakers who have a clear knowledge of the various stakeholders in China will be a step ahead in understanding the barriers to progress in the area of sustainability, and how to align themselves with those best positioned to lead the way forward.

Read the paper here.