The concept of low carbon development is more than just buzz words - communities and countries around the world are pushing for low carbon development policies that are intended to minimize the environmental impacts of economic development and increased prosperity. All countries have the right to develop, overcome poverty, and become self sustaining. Low carbon development policies are imperative for both developed and developing countries: the former in terms of mitigating commitments for existing development and actions for future development; the latter in the form of actions toward sustainable development through technologies, finance and capacity building within those countries.

China is an interesting example of a country that has set ambitious goals for itself regarding clean energy and energy efficiency, but at the same time it has just experienced the largest six-month increase in the tonnage of human generated greenhouse gases ever by a single country. A recent New York Times article entitled China's Energy Use Threatens Goals on Warming, describes the incredible rate of fossil fuel consumption - coal-fired electricity and oil sales each climbed 24 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, on the heels of similar increases in the fourth quarter. The shift in China's industrial base is driving this thirst for fossil fuels - a shift away from light export industry such as garment manufacturing to heavy industry such as steel and cement manufacturing, almost all of which is for the domestic market. The increased prosperity has only led to more energy use. Chinese government statistics indicate that almost all urban households in China now have a washing machine, a refrigerator and an air-conditioner. Rural ownership of appliances is now soaring as well because of new government subsidies for their purchase since late 2008. And of course car ownership and usage is on the rise. The economic base shift is outpacing China's efforts in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Although China is the leading wind turbine manufacturer and installer in the world, wind still only accounts for 2% of China's electricity capacity.

How and why is this happening? The environment was an after thought to rapid industrialization, and now China is reconciling its traditional approach (fossil fuel based) with a low carbon approach. This doesn't mean that China or the rest of the industrialized world are lost causes - this is where the mitigation commitments come in. But it does indicate that low carbon development policies need to be the guiding forces behind future economic development or we'll continue to spend a lot of time and resources cleaning up the messes that we've created. It also signifies that low carbon development is more than making pledges; it requires well thought out policies that are based on hard data and best practices in order to achieve our commitments and intended actions.

What sort of low carbon development strategies can turn this situation around? Putting a price on carbon is a good place to start, but I'll leave that for another blog post.