Hong Kong helps China’s goal of growing greener and leaner

Rapid economic growth in China has taken its toll on the environment. In many areas, especially the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, pollution, intensive energy use and resource depletion as a result of intensive manufacturing activity represent timely opportunities for green-tech companies to make carbon-smart investments and benefit from policy backing.

In its 12th Five Year Plan for 2010-2015, China identified challenges that threaten the continued development of its economy. The Opinion of the CPCCC on Establishing the 12th Five Year Plan, adopted on October 18 2010, and the Explanation of the Opinion authored by Wen Jiabao and presented to the Communist Party of China Central Committee (CPCCC) on October 15 2010, identified 10 factors that threaten economic development:

• Resource constraints in energy and raw materials;
• Mismatch in investment and imbalance in consumption;
• Income disparity;
• Weakness in capacity for domestic innovation;
• Production structure is not rational – too much heavy industry, not enough service;
• Agriculture foundation is thin and weak;
• Urban/rural development is not coordinated;
• Employment system is imbalanced;
• Social contradictions are progressively more apparent; and
• Obstacles to scientific development continue to exist and are difficult to remove.

Matt Hu is the head of North China Investment Promotion at InvestHK, a department of the Government of Hong Kong