Joanna Lewis' Green Innovation in China is as important as it is timely. Offering a detailed exploration of China's wind power industry, Lewis provides a rich analysis of the clean technology strategy of the world's leading consumer of energy. In the process, she goes a long way toward promoting scholarly understanding about China's quest to develop a low-carbon economy. While Green Innovation is required reading for anyone interested in China's energy or environmental politics, it will likely appeal to a much wider audience. Scholars with a general interest in China, as well as anyone concerned about global climate change, will find Green Innovation a valuable source of information and analysis.
Although by no means a Pollyanna, Lewis offers an optimistic portrayal of China's potential to become an innovation leader in green technologies and to transition into a lower – if not a low – carbon economy. As she states: “China is poised to become the world leader in renewable energy technology development” (p. 24). China began manufacturing wind turbines only in the mid-1990s. Today, as Lewis documents, there are dozens of Chinese companies manufacturing increasingly large and technologically sophisticated turbines. Some of these companies are expanding their global reach and exporting technology abroad. The question is: how and why has China achieved its success?
Lewis provides two answers to this question. First, crucial to China's rapid development of a wind power industry has been the policy environment. Although Beijing has made mistakes along the way and the wind power industry still faces significant hurdles, which Lewis might have discussed more extensively, the Chinese leadership has been steadfast in its support for the wind power industry. By providing financial support for research and development (R&D), establishing demonstration projects, reducing taxes on turbine manufacturers and imported components, as well as creating feed-in tariffs, the Chinese government has played a fundamental role in developing a wind power industry. Government policies have allowed companies to engage in long-term planning and investment, while also nurturing the creation of a national innovation system, which Lewis defines as “the network of public and private institutions that fund and perform R&D, translate the results of R&D into commercial innovations and effect the diffusion of new technologies” (p. 33).
Second, in the process of increasing its wind power capacity, the Chinese leadership has pursued a hard-nosed technology transfer strategy. As Lewis states, “China always intended for its wind industry to ultimately consist of Chinese-owned firms and Chinese-owned technology, and it established a national innovation system for the wind sector that left little to chance in ensuring this goal was met” (p. 43). From the outset China forwarded local content requirements for wind farm projects. This compelled foreign wind turbine producers to establish manufacturing facilities in China. The result is that Chinese companies have been afforded an additional means to acquire both the technology and management skills necessary to promote innovation. In that sense, Lewis's book is a story of the evolution and success of China's technology transfer policy. It also makes clear the importance of accessing global networks for any country that seeks to promote industrial innovation.
Lewis develops these themes in a systematic fashion. After a brief introductory chapter, chapter two establishes the importance of China's energy policy to the global environment and, in particular, to efforts to combat climate change. Lewis then analyses China's negotiating position in international climate change negotiations and the wide array of energy efficiency policies that China has rolled out over the last decade. Lewis makes clear that, although China is often perceived as dragging its feet in multilateral climate change negotiations, it has made energy efficiency and renewable energy a fundamental aspect of its overall development strategy.
Chapter three covers a great deal of ground. It begins by placing the development of China's wind industry in theoretical context. Here Lewis essentially asks the question: how do countries, particularly those that got off to a late start in a particular industry, catch up technologically and become indigenous innovators? Much depends on the country's national innovation system. From there, Lewis examines China's national innovation system and concludes with a description of the official institutions and government programmes that comprise China's wind energy regime.
Chapters four and five explore China's wind power industry from the firm level. Chapter five is a case study of Goldwind, one of China's leading wind manufacturers, while chapter four explores the role of foreign manufactures in the development of China's wind industry. It profiles the major international companies and their China operations while describing the strategies they have employed to navigate China's complex and ever-changing regulatory environment. She traces a movement away from joint ventures and more toward wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries, which allow the foreign company to meet local content requirements while still protecting intellectual property. While this shift potentially limits the ability of Chinese companies to engage in technological leapfrogging, Lewis nonetheless makes clear that both foreign and domestic firms continue to benefit from informal learning networks within the Chinese wind industry.
Chapter six places China in comparative context by looking at the experiences of two other economies, India and South Korea, both of which she describes as latecomers that were successful in developing a domestic wind power industry. While there is clearly something to be learned from these success stories, selecting countries that offered a greater range of outcomes might have been more useful for drawing policy lessons. Although the three countries have not pursued identical technological leapfrogging strategies, the story here reinforces the points of earlier chapters – a country can develop a wind power industry, but it requires active government involvement to provide both stable market demand and technology transfer. Continuing her emphasis on the importance of global networks, Lewis's final chapter offers an overview and a series of recommendations about Sino-American cooperation in the arena of clean energy. She highlights efforts at the official level as well as those promoted by non-governmental organizations.
In the end, one walks away from this book with a clear sense that China is well on the way to becoming a leader in green technology. The appeal of the Chinese market to foreign manufacturers, combined with strong policy support from Beijing, makes it highly likely that China will soon play a leading role in clean energy development. Less certain is whether China's emergence as a green technology innovator will result in a global or even domestic transition to a low carbon economy and help the international community successfully combat climate change. As Lewis's final chapter makes clear, achieving these latter goals requires more than the promotion of green technology. Both China and the US must take dramatic steps to reduce emissions in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
