The Global Environment Facility (GEF) approved Tuesday a grant of US$ 12 million to help China harness wind power and reduce greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere.

The GEF is an independent multilateral financial mechanism that assists developing countries to protect the global environment in four areas:

biodiversity, climate change, international waters and ozone layer depletion. It is jointly implemented by the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Environment Program, and the World Bank.

The GEF-supported project, which totally costs US$ 98 million, supports China's efforts to diversify its energy sources and reduce its dependence on coal, which accounts for nearly 72 percent of total commercial energy production and contributes significantly to the high level of carbon emissions.
"Heavy dependence on coal not only pollutes the atmosphere, it also has health and mortality consequence," said GEF Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mohamed T. EI-Ashry.

"This project is a win-win for power generation and human health," he added.
The project will increase by 78 megawatts the electrical capacity provided by wind power through the construction of three wind farms at Dabancheng in northwest China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region, at Fujin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and at Xiwaizi in Liaoning Province, also in northeast China.

The GEF said that China has a rich wind resource base and some wind farm sites boast "world class" resources. However, the present installed capacity is only about 265 megawatts, which is a fraction of 1 percent of the known potential.

(Xinhua 11/08/2000)