پروژه های انرژی بانک جهانی در چین: نفوذ در حفاظت از محیط زیست

A study of the World Bank's energy-related project portfolio in China reveals several areas where World Bank assistance has clearly influenced broader trends in energy and environmental protection in China. This paper reviews the World Bank's 36 energy-related projects approved from 1984 to 1999 in the context of these broader trends. Projects helped accelerate development of large-scale efficient coal power plants, hydropower, state-of-the-art technologies for controlling power-plant emissions, and international-best-practice environmental assessments of energy projects. The World Bank has just begun to fund several promising initiatives for energy efficiency and renewable energy. At the same time, some opportunities for the Chinese government and the World Bank to jointly promote environmentally sounder energy development are only just now being addressed, such as natural gas distribution and utilization, rural energy and development, wind power, energy efficiency of heat supply and buildings, energy efficiency in industry through performance contracting, and greater support for clean energy options within ongoing electric power sector reform.

China has borrowed the most money from the World Bank for energy projects of any country in the world. From 1984 to 1999, the World Bank provided about $7 billion for 36 energy-related projects, and the Global Environment Facility provided an additional $90 million in co-financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.1 How has this assistance helped China address pressing energy and environmental problems? How has it not? What have been the main influences of this assistance on environmental policies, energy technologies, and direct environmental emissions in China? To answer these questions, this paper presents a framework of 15 important strategies for reducing the environmental consequences of energy use in China, and analyzes the historical influence of World Bank assistance within each of these 15 strategies. The findings presented here are based on a review of the World Bank's energy-related project portfolio in China carried out in 1998 and 1999 by the Operations Evaluation Department of the World Bank. The author served as a consultant for that evaluation. During that period, the author conducted interviews with approximately 80 people, including World Bank staff, Chinese government officials, utility managers, private-firm managers, project personnel, academic researchers, representatives of other donor agencies, and representatives of non-governmental organizations.2 This paper provides a summary of the author's findings. The views expressed are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank or the Chinese government.

What should the Bank be doing now to assist the Chinese? The six most significant opportunities for the Bank in the future are: 1. Natural gas distribution and utilization: The Bank could target natural gas distribution and end-use, such as replacing coal-fired furnaces with gas-fired furnaces, cogeneration and district heating. Loans to industrial and commercial entities through commercial credit lines could finance gas-based infrastructure. Loans to municipalities could help expand gas-distribution infrastructure and use of district heating systems. Policy and regulatory frameworks supportive of gas could be encouraged. The main questions are whether the Chinese see a need for foreign exchange in these activities, and whether the private sector can do much of the investment. 2. Energy efficiency of heat supply and buildings: A key area for the Bank will be to help improve the energy efficiency of buildings and heat supply, such as promoting improved standards and new construction materials. A greater number of district heating systems can be constructed or rehabilitated. In addition, the Bank can encourage greater responsibility for efficient operations and maintenance of district heating systems and heat supply in buildings, both through new policies and regulatory frameworks and through improved technologies for monitoring, metering and system control. 3. Energy efficiency in industry: The performance contracting models being developed under the Energy Conservation project could be extended to a greater number of institutions and provinces. The bank could also promote energy efficiency in town and village enterprises as part of rural development strategies — local institutions already exist for this purpose but need to be stronger and more commercial. Motor efficiency standards and other energy efficiency regulations to be made in the context of a landmark 1998 energy conservation law could benefit from Bank assistance with international experience and best practice. 4. Rural energy and development: Support for rural energy development could contribute to the Bank's poverty alleviation goals if rural development units within the Bank consider energy issues afresh. For example, biomass is one promising technology. Farmers are making less use of agricultural wastes for cooking and heating (as they turn to other fuels like LPG) so they could use more biomass for electricity generation and biogas production to fuel productive uses in rural areas. Small hydro, wind, and solar technologies all have potential to foster development in China's rural areas. 5. Incorporating support for energy efficiency and renewable energy into electric power reform: A host of potential policies can be incorporated into electric power reform that will promote a more “level playing field” for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Examples exist from both developed and developing countries that could potentially be adapted to China, such as independent-power-producer and power-purchase-agreement frameworks, transmission access and wheeling policies, renewable energy schemes mandating minimum portfolio requirements, emissions fees and trading, and use of emissions premiums in power planning. 6. Wind power development: Wind power is a relatively new but growing priority within China. The Bank is making a substantial contribution in this area through its Renewable Energy Development project. There is scope for much greater assistance in the future, in terms of project financing, wind turbine manufacturer support, scale-up, and especially support that addresses the regulatory and policy issues mentioned earlier. As traditional Bank lending in the power sector is declining, it may be that some of the above opportunities will require stand-alone GEF grants in conjunction with other non-Bank sources of financing. While GEF grants have facilitated all of the Bank's energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, one day the Chinese may be unwilling to “sign a loan to get a grant” as some have said. Some areas, like gas distribution and utilization, wind power, and district-heating systems, may still be prime areas for further Bank lending. The Chinese willingness to borrow is key — and probably depends substantially on domestic capital costs and availability. The challenge for the Bank is to find ways to press ahead in most or all of the above six areas.