The construction of Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in the western province of Qinghai, China advocates the nation’s go-green intentions. China’s promises from the Paris Climate Agreement has the country aiming to increasing the amount of energy coming from non-fossil fuels to 20 percent of the total by 2030, according to Bloomberg. And given the energy agency’s pledge last month to spend more than $360 billion on renewable energy sources, they are well on their way.
Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, whose construction commenced in 2013 with a cost of about 6bn yuan (£721.3m), has the capacity to produce a gigantic 850MW of power – enough to supply up to 200,000 households, according to The Guardian.
Xie Xiaoping, chairman of the Huanghe Hydropower Development, said the development of clean energy technology in China is imperative if they want to stay true to their commitments from the Paris Agreement. “Even if President Trump doesn’t care about the climate, that’s America’s point of view,” he said. “The Chinese government will carry out and fulfil its international commitments as they always have done in the past, and as they are doing now in order to try to tackle climate change.
"Our response to climate change bears on the future of our people and the wellbeing of mankind,” Xi Chinese president, Xi Jinping said, vowing to “unwaveringly pursue sustainable development”. China aims to be producing 110 GW of solar power and 210 GW of wind power by 2020.
Contrary to the U.S.’s current government, Chinese officials are very conscientious of the ways in which the climate has changed even in their own lifetimes. “When I was a child, rivers usually froze over during the winter; heavy snowfall hit the area every year, so we could go skiing and skating … people weren’t very rich, and nobody had a fridge, but you could still store your meat outside,” Communist party official Xie said. “We cannot do that any more. I don’t care what Mr Trump says – I don’t understand it and I don’t care about it. I think what he says is nonsense.”
So do many of us, Xie, and it’s ever-important that we stand strong in fighting for our planet through big investments like China’s Longyangxia Dam Solar Park and small personal ones like hanging your laundry instead of using your dryer.
Sources: The Guardian, Nature World News
