The Chinese government will impose more severe punishment than ever on companies that fail to meet the green goals set by the state, and provide more education to the general public to drive the country`s sustainable growth, according to a leading Chinese delegate to the fourth Annual Meeting of New Champions here on Monday.
"By the year`s end, factories that do not meet the energy-efficiency requirements will be shut down and their bosses will be punished," said Cheng Siwei, former vice chairman of the standing committee of the National People`s Congress at a session on the first day of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010 in this northeastern port city.
The outlook will be dim for those who ignore the "green revolution," added Cheng, refusing to disclose more details on the punishment.
In response to the question of whether sustainable growth poses a threat to factories` profitability, Cheng said that factories that are moving toward a sustainable business may lose money for a short period of time, but in the long run it is cost-effective."
"Companies should actively transform the development pattern and widely adopt low-carbon technology to enhance their ability to maintain sustainable growth," he said.
Besides adopting severer punitive measures, promoting the public`s green awareness is another way to be taken by the government.
"We`ve been educating governments at all levels, as well as the general public, on the urgency of creating a low-carbon lifestyle. The Chinese people`s lives have improved dramatically over the past 30 years. But an improved lifestyle does not necessarily mean increased burdens to the earth.
In China`s 5,000-year-old civilization, our ancestors lived a renewable and sustainable life most of the time. That`s what we should inherit from them."
This year is the last year in China`s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), under which the country planned to cut its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by the year’s end.
The past four years saw the figure only decline by 14.8 percent. However, energy consumption per GDP unit rose slightly, by 0.09 percent, in the first half of 2010, which suggests it will be difficult to reach the target level by the end of the year.
As the global population expands from 6 billion to 9 billion over the next 40 years, sustainability will become both a societal and economic imperative in the 21st century.
Against this backdrop, leaders from public and private sectors shared their perspectives on how the sustainability imperative will transform companies, industry and countries during the fourth Annual Meeting of New Champions, scheduled from September 13 to 15.