Branson Plans to Set Up Clean-Energy Company in China

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Richard Branson plans to establish a company in China to help the world's biggest emitter of climate-altering gases develop clean energy and cut emissions.

``We plan to invest quite heavily in it,'' said the billionaire, who is traveling with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on his first visit to China as head of government. Branson's Virgin Group Ltd. invests in alternative-energy technologies including windmills, hydroelectric projects and solar power.

``China is being very proactive in trying to encourage the development of clean energy,'' Branson said during a briefing last night with journalists on his flight to Beijing. ``We have clean energy companies in Europe and America which have been developing clean fuels, wind power, solar power.''

China may become the world's leading market for wind-power generation within five years, according to a September estimate by Vestas Wind System A/S' Chief Executive Office Ditlev Engel. China, with 5,600 megawatts of installed wind-power capacity in 2007, wants non-fossil fuel sources including solar, wind and biomass to account for 10 percent of energy supplies by 2010 and 15 percent a decade later.

China last year surpassed the U.S. as the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases. The country's emissions, driven by coal-fired power plants and the world's second-biggest vehicle market, may more than double to 11.4 billion tons by 2030, according to an estimate by the International Energy Agency.

Nurturing Alternative Energy

The Chinese government will give tax breaks, subsidies, fiscal incentives and establish special funds to develop renewable energy, said the National Development and Reform Commission's Vice Chairman Chen Deming on Sept. 4.

Wind-power generating capacity may total between 16,000 megawatts and 20,000 megawatts by 2010, far exceeding the Chinese government's 2010 target of 5,000 megawatts. China's investment to meet its 2020 renewable-energy target may be more than 2 trillion yuan ($276 billion), the commission said in September last year, higher than previous government estimates of 1.5 trillion yuan.

Beijing's city government this month started enforcing a stricter auto-fuel standard as part of efforts to reduce pollution in time for the Olympic Games in August, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing a government official.

Gasoline and diesel sold in the capital must meet the China IV standards, equivalent to the European Union's Euro IV requirements, Xinhua said. Beijing introduced China III fuel standards, with the goal of cutting annual sulfur dioxide emissions by 2,480 metric tons annually, at the end of 2005, the report said. The latest benchmark is intended to cut annual emissions by a further 1,840 tons, it said.

The U.K. and China signed eight agreements on education, climate change, renewable energy and the development of sustainable cities during Brown's visit.