China’s greenhouse gas emissions could more than double by 2020, according to a new report released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Beijing has been reluctant to release official data on greenhouse gas from the nation’s fast-growing use of coal, oil and gas. This new study from the state-run institute breaks that reticence and sends another clear reminder that China is where our quest for climate stability will be won or lost.

Full article here, courtesy of Breakthrough Blog.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced that it is investing in ENN Solar Energy Co Ltd, part of China’s XinAo Group, in an effort to help drive down global prices for solar-generated electricity.

IFC’s financing package will include a $45 million loan from its own accounts, additional loans syndicated from commercial banks and other lenders of up to $76 million, and the purchase of an IFC stake in ENN Energy for up to $15 million. The financing will support ENN Solar Energy’s implementation of China’s first large-scale, thin-film-based solar module manufacturing facility, an investment the IFC said will help the development of the local solar photovoltaic market.

Full article here, courtesy of SustainableBusiness.com News

In this article on www.mrcleantech.com, William Brent muses on low-cost (sometimes even low tech) solutions that can play an outsized role in making life more green/efficient … among the lowest-income populations on the planet.

Cost effective solutions of this type are hugely important for ensuring that people in developing countries achieve the economic growth that is their right without following the wasteful, polluting, energy-intensive path charted by wealthy industrialized nations.

However, Brent’s article raises an important point likely to appear again and again on this page: In these countries, to what degree are “bottom up” solutions employed by individuals or small groups of them (e.g. green buildings and everything that goes into them) going to change the course … compared with structural, systemic change at the infrastructure level (”top down”) that can, in one fell swoop, impact the energy footprint of thousands or millions?