China's green revolution

Here's a nice interesting insight from my colleague John Richardson about China's fast track towards becoming the world's leader in clean technologies.

If you're an ICIS subscriber (about ICIS), you can access the whole article in this link. Or you can also read the unedited somewhat similar version on his blog. Otherwise (that is if you don't have the time or just plain lazy to click links), here are some points that John noted on how China's government subsidies are helping push the region's green revolution.

• China ranks fifth on wind energy capacity behind Germany, the US, Spain and India.
  

• China is second only to Japan in the global solar photovoltaic market.

• Chinese companies are zealously pursuing viable carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies and the region could become excellent CCS testing ground for major global energy companies.

• China is also introducing fuel efficiency standards for cars.

• China is the second largest recipient of sustainable energy investment behind Germany.

The question asked is will China's push towards green tech enough to overcome its hunger for consumer capitalism and world domination on industrialization - which are the major sources of global pollution problems in the first place?