China needs to spend more on pollution cleanup

China is looking toward clean tech as a boom market and necessity since the country is heavily polluted. But its spending falls well short on clean-up efforts.

Bloomberg Businessweek has an interesting tale regarding China's push to green energy sources. The article boils down to this:

• China should be spending 2 percent of GDP on environmental fixes, but spends less than half that, according to the International Fund for China's Environment.
• China cleaned up for the Olympics, but is now backsliding.
• Residents are fed up with pollution and that's a big potential source of unrest.

The solution here would be to spend more on pollution cleanup and tougher regulations. However, China can't just force its industrial base to pay higher manufacturing costs. The other conundrum: Some observers complement China's cleantech policies, but overlook the fact that its environment needs to get cleaner in a hurry.

This story is worth watching since it's going to take decades to play out.

Related:

• GE CEO Jeff Immelt: U.S. energy policy lags behind China, world
• China, Japan tussle over rare earth minerals; hybrid cars, solar panels, wind turbines at stake
• The new space race? China, U.S. duel for cleantech leadership
• Cleantech VC VantagePoint launches $100 million fund in China
• World Economic Forum: China, growth and sustainability

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com