China's Renewable Energy Policy

If you only read one article today, I hope you'd read Mayer Brown report on China's renewable energy policy, which offers both the grand picture and the details of developments in China's energy law and regulations. Before this, we've seen news of China's plan to use market measures - levy carbon tax and raise petroleum price - to mitigate consumption of traditional-energy. And in March, China has already surpassed U.S. as the world's largest investor in renewable energy.

Yet these changes seem to be not early enough - just a couple of days ago, news broke out that China has overtaken U.S. as the world's largest energy consumer, in total, not per capita.

See the data below: (i LOVE charts!)

Total Energy Consumption - U.S. and China (Million tons of oil equivalents),

2009 number is estimation

Total Energy Consumption Per Capita - U.S. and China (Million tons of oil equivalent)

China's renewable energy investment/policy is definitely the most important news to watch. For a detailed report of global green energy investment, check out this.