Hello, welcome to visit Shanghai Forum
Independent innovation cannot be achieved in a short time. It requiresdecades of great effort, from training talent to system of organization topolicymaking.
Reporter: Xu Shengjie
Reporter:Durban Climate Conference just closed at the end of last year, and our NationalClimate Change Strategy Research Center and International Cooperation Centerwas also founded in last December. What practical measures do you think shouldwe take in utilizing new energy in order to make more achievements in energysaving and emission reduction.
LiJunfeng: We need to enhance the opening force of some markets. So far ournational industries have already made very good achievements, yet we still meetsome problems in market, and therefore, we need to enhance opening force ofmarket, or else we can hardly achieve more. Nowadays, the utilizationpercentage of new energy is still very low. It increased a little during “ElevenFive,” yet decreased last year. Till now, the whole percentage has not achievedthe expected goal, which requires enlarged market.
Reporter: A key point that the world cares much about the climateconference is China’s responsibility as a big country. There are certain doubtsin international society arguing that China, as a big country, should take moreresponsibilities, yet at the same time, China is only a developing country. Howdo you think of such controversies?
LiJunfeng: The responsibility and obligation should match a country’s developmentbackground and level. It is meaningless to only talk about responsibilitywithout mentioning development stage. Countries in different development stageshould accordingly bear different responsibilities. For example, it isimpossible for elementary school students to take on college students’ responsibilities,and university students cannot take graduate students’ responsibilities. Thishas a lot to do with development stage and level. Therefore, we need to takethe practical condition into consideration before talking about a country’sresponsibility. Every country is responsible to save energy and reduceemission, but the so-called “responsibility of big country” cannot be taken soeasily. It is just like we cannot ask a three-year old child to takeresponsibility as an eighteen-year old adult. In fact, when it comes toresponsibility, there exist no fundamental differences between big countriesand small countries. Therefore, it is reasonable and meaningful that weobjectively look at China’s practical development and then decideresponsibility accordingly.
Reporter: We are continuously making efforts in energy saving andemission reduction, then what achievements do you think may we make in future10 years?
LiJunfeng: We hope that by 2020, the percentage of non-fossil energy can achieve15%, but it is very difficult judging by now because there are many factorsincluding economic development level, fossil energy increase issue, anduncertain development of nuclear and water electricity. Therefore, whether wecan achieve the 15% goal remains a suspenseful matter. We surely hope to dobetter, yet judging by present factors, there are so many uncertainties in thefuture ten years, and therefore we can only say that we will try our best.Nowadays, we are planning to put great emphasis on water electricity, solarpower, wind power and some other new energy, and safely developing nuclearelectricity, yet the current status is not mature, which requires furtherimprovement on practical measures.
Reporter:You have mentioned many times during past interviews that the focus of newenergy development is on independent innovation. How do our new energiesdevelop by now? Have we made breakthroughs in independent innovation?
Independentinnovation is impossible to be achieved in a short time, but requires decadesof great efforts on talents training, mechanism, system construction and policymaking. Currently, our research and development system does not matchrequirements of innovation, which needs big improvement in mechanism withoutwhich innovation alone is meaningless. For example, compared with westerncountries, we do not pay enough attention to talents. For a same researchprogram, the United States spends about 60%-70% on innovative labor cost whileour support is less than 5%, and the rest is only for equipments. How can weachieve innovation if we care so little about talents?
It is along existing problem in China that we pay too much attention to equipmentswhile belittling value of human beings. We are always willing to spend bunch ofmoney on equipments or buildings, yet we have never provided talents with enoughsupport. Many Chinese are now working with high salaries for the United States,Germany, etc., while China cannot effectively keep talents. If such situationremains, we should be very worried about the results.
Reporter:How do you think a highly developed city like Shanghai should achievelow-carbon development? Would you please give us some advice?
LiJunfeng: I have talked about the same issue three or four years ago inShanghai. Shanghai has already been an internationalized metropolis. In myview, Shanghai needs not solely pay attention to fast development, but shouldslow down a bit and try to keep track with international society inenvironmental quality and living quality. We have many excellent universitiessuch as Fudan University, well-built buildings, and advanced laboratoryconditions. The gap with developed countries lies in our lack of those withexperience and technical mastery. What Shanghai needs to consider now is how toimprove quality instead of quantity. Today, we need no more expansion of ourcampus, no more decoration of our buildings. What we need is how to better andmore practically improve life quality, which is more important than focusing onhow much our GDP increases.
Though itis surely a long time work, we need to have a sense of urgency and a determinedidea to seek for change! The problems such as lack of respect to talents andlagging behind of innovative mechanism cannot be solved if we depend alone oncapital support without making basic changes in system and mechanism. Shanghaimay act as a foregoer in making such changes though it is hard to be achievednationwide in a short time, and I sincerely hope to see such internationalizedmetropolis as Shanghai to lead the path well.
Introduction of Li Junfeng
Directorof National Climate Change Strategy Research Center and InternationalCooperation Center
