A Glimmer of Hope

IN MY CHAPTER �Under the Dome� in the China Story Yearbook 2015, there was plenty of cause for pessimism surrounding China�s quest for low-carbon, green growth. While the news is not all good for 2016 (see Forums �Environmental Disasters�, pp.21�23 and �Iron-Fisted Punishments�, pp.25�27), there have been some positive environmental outcomes for China and the world as well. Domestically, the release of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan in March 2016 strengthened China�s commitment to developing a low-carbon green economy (see Chapter 1 �What�s the Plan?, pp.xxvi�15). There is ample evidence to suggest that this commitment is real. In May 2016, Greenpeace declared that �China�s Thirteenth Five Year Plan is quite possibly the most important document in the world in setting the pace of acting on climate change�. Greenpeace further noted that �2020 energy targets that would have seemed quite meaningful or even ambitious a few years ago have now become redundant�.12 Of the many figures they provide to support their positive assessment is the share of coal in China�s total energy mix, which is expected to fall below sixty-three percent in 2016 � a one-percentage-point annual drop since 2010, and only one percentage point above the target of sixty-two percent for 2020.