Greening Chinese economy generates opportunities for Europe

China's transition to green economy are providing West companies with immense opportunities, delegates from China and Europe at the Hamburg Summit were told Saturday.  [Special coverage]

Environmental pollution is the price China is paying for its rapid economic growth during the last decades.

Problems are not "inevitable" as decades of high growth speed in China, said Zhang Xiaogang, President of Ansteel Group Corporation, one of the biggest steel makers in China.

"Though it is a rough path, some improvement has been achieved along side the economic transition going through in China," Zhang said.

"More and more newly built facilities and factories in China are using green energies," Zhang introduced to the delegates, adding that the Chinese government is introducing more regulations on environmental protection and energy saving for companies.

Zhang's opinion was echoed by Lothar Herrmann, President and CEO of Siemens Limited China.

Living in Beijing, Herrmann noted that China's environmental problems are one of the drivers behind China's planned shift towards a greener and more sustainable model of economic development.

"The Chinese government has invested a lot combating pollution, and the policies, the technologies and standards are already there," he said, suggesting China to put forward the implementations.

"The international players also want to play a full role in the process," Herrmann said.

Considering the enormous energy demand of China's heavy as well as manufacturing industry, the shift from fossil to renewable energy sources presents a great and long-term challenge for the country.

China is hunger for advanced technologies in realizing green development, Zhou Zhongshu, Chairman of Minmetals Corporation said to the summit.

Zhou advised to European peers to grab the opportunity in China's economic transitions with recycling technology, energy storage technology and comprehensive energy saving technology.

"The market is huge," he said.

Tor E. Svensen, CEO of German maritime company "DNV GL" , expressed his optimistic views on the greening Chinese economy process.

"West companies have really opportunities," Svensen said, adding that China's ambitious greening plan creating great potential for mutually beneficial cooperation between Europe and China with regard to environmentally efficient and effective approaches.