Green Innovation In China ─ China's Wind Power Industry and the Global Transition to a Low-carbon Economy

As the greatest coal producing and consuming nation in the world, China would seem an unlikely haven for wind power. Yet the country now boasts a world-class industry that promises to make low-carbon technology more affordable and available to all. Conducting an empirical study of China's remarkable transition and the possibility of replicating their model elsewhere, Joanna I. Lewis adds greater depth to a theoretical understanding of China's technological innovation systems and the country's current and future role in a globalized economy.

Lewis focuses on China's specific methods of international technology transfer, its forms of international cooperation and competition, and its implementation of effective policies that promoted the development of a home-grown industry. Just a decade ago, China claimed only a handful of operating wind turbines -- all imported from Europe and the United States. Today, the country is the largest wind power market in the world, with turbines made almost exclusively in its own factories. Studying this shift reveals how China's political leaders have responded to domestic energy challenges and how they may confront climate change. The nation's ability to escalate its use of wind power also demonstrates China's ability to leapfrog to cleaner energy technologies -- a path equally viable for other developing countries hoping to bypass gradual industrialization and the "technological lock-in" of hydrocarbon-intensive energy infrastructure. Though setbacks are possible, China could come to dominate global wind turbine sales, becoming a hub of technological innovation and a major instigator of low-carbon economic change.

Joanna I. Lewis is an assistant professor of science, technology, and international affairs at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Her research focuses on energy and environmental issues in China, including renewable energy industry development and climate change policy. She has worked for numerous governmental, nongovernmental, and international organizations and is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report.