China’s leading the way in green manufacturing

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A7

July 13, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

China’s leading the way in green manufacturing

By Nigel Johnston | July 13, 2015, Monday |

Print Edition

FOREIGN VIEWS

In northern China, air pollution is responsible for shortening people’s lives by five and a half years. Nine percent of China’s gross national income is lost to environmental problems.

None of this is surprising to a Westerner, because perhaps no aspect of China is more notable to those of us in the West than its environmental issues.

Here’s what is surprising: China is the world leader in green manufacturing. It’s true, and I am not alone in believing that China will continue to lengthen its lead in green manufacturing over the next quarter century.

In a report for the World Wildlife Fund, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants write that “China is the largest clean-tech country in absolute terms,” with 30 percent year-on-year sales growth.

China’s industrial firms have earned almost 105,000 ISO 14001 certificates, which map out effective environmental management systems. The country whose businesses have the next closest number of certificates (Italy) has only 24,662. The US and Germany have fewer than 8,000 each.

For China, green manufacturing is also viewed as a way to catapult its manufacturing sector ahead of global rivals, such as the US and Germany, in both sophistication and profitability. This will help China continue to grow and create new jobs for years into the future.

Going green is not only a solution to environmental degradation, it can also extend China’s spectacular run of economic growth.

Climate change, for example, is not just a source of worry. It’s also a source of opportunity, as one official document puts it, “to speed up economic restructuring as well as the transformation of China’s mode of development and hasten forth a new industrial revolution.”

I, for one, am confident that China will manage the full-fledged transition to green development. On QualityTrade.com, a global wholesale e-commerce website that ranks companies by quality standards — including environmental ones, we already see many of these green manufacturing companies successfully marketing themselves to customers worldwide.

China’s 12th Five-year Plan doubles down on seven important green industries: environmental protection and energy efficiency, new energy, next generation information technology, biotechnology, high-end manufacturing, clean-energy vehicles and high-tech materials.

But here’s the critical point: These aren’t just green industries. They are high-growth and high-value, too. And they have huge export potential.

The Middle Kingdom is already seeing the fruits of its green industry focus. Already six of the world’s top 10 solar panel producers are Chinese, led by Trina Solar, which has more than 14,000 employees in 14 countries around the world.

Green manufacturing also includes less sophisticated moves, such as improving the energy efficiency of factories in more traditional sectors.

Concord Ceramics has factories in Shanghai, Dongguan and Shenzhen. Facing higher labor costs and thinner margins, General Manager Kevin Chang turned to energy efficiency to improve his bottom line.

Chang’s production line requires intensive air conditioning. The electricity to run those ACs ate up 15 percent of his operating costs.

To reduce expenses, Chang installed a higher volume AC system. Now, he says, his electricity bills are 40 percent smaller. And he’s on the hunt for more — and greener — savings.

Nigel Johnston is the founder and CEO of QualityTrade.com, a global wholesale e-commerce platform that ranks companies by quality standards — including environmental ones.

Opinion

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

China’s leading the way in green manufacturing

Email this to your friend