MEXICO CITY-- The U.S. state of California is planning to cooperate with some Chinese provinces in energy saving projects, a senior state government official said on August 24.
"We have been working with the United Nations Development Program to identify provinces in China which have similar industries to California," said Linda S. Adams, an official with California's Environment Protection Agency (CEPA), at a conference organized by the Mexican Environment Ministry. "We are working on energy saving protocols with those provinces."
The three candidates on the Chinese side were the provinces of Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shandong, she noted.
Both California and China have powerful steel and cement industries, which could benefit from the energy saving initiatives, said the official, adding that a detailed announcement on such cooperation will be made at a Sept. 30-Oct. 2 conference in Los Angeles.
Adams said that the CEPA is also working with Mexican agencies to help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, like methane in dairies and landfills. Methane has around 22 times the greenhouse effect of the world's most common greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
Capturing and burning methane can not only reduce emissions but also produce electricity, replacing the need for burning fossil fuels.
"In Mexico we are also helping to develop protocols for reforestation. We are hoping that soon, when you buy offsets in California some of that will go to supporting reforestation projects in Mexico," she said.
Offsets refer to contracts bought by businesses and sometimes private citizens that pay a third party to capture and store carbon to offset the carbon produced by the buyers. Carbon bonds are one type of offset.
