Xi Jinping moves China towards a clean green future

  • 14/12/2017

China has made a bold statement after signing the Paris Climate Change agreement, pouring billions into renewables and shutting down tens of thousands of coal factories.

The production of electric vehicles in China has skyrocketed, following the signing of the Paris Climate Change agreement.

In two years, car manufacturer Lichi EV has increased production from 20,000 to 90,000 a year.

"Thanks to government incentives, we are expecting huge growth in the future," deputy manager Wu Fangxiu told ITV News.

"There's now a policy to gradually abolishing gas-consuming cars, and e-cars will have more and more market share."

The government has introduced laws requiring, from 2018, one in every five cars to run on alternative fuel, and all government vehicles and public transport to move to alternative energy.

There are signs the ambitious plan is working - 2017 saw some of the best air quality on record for Beijing.

However, some residents may be left behind in the changeover. The gas supply to the village of Cangzhou is unreliable, meaning some villagers have been left without heating.

Lao Liang told ITV news she couldn't afford the gas, so she had been secretly burning coal and hoping the government wouldn't notice.

Another resident, Lao Chen, was doing the same, saying several people had complained to local authorities that it was freezing inside their homes and the gas continued to shut off.

He said they had no choice but to use coal, but he feared, in 2018, he would be forced to use the gas.

Newshub.