It may not be too long before ‘green stocks’ make themselves a market-moving category - much in the league of banking, housing or oil scrips - on the China bourses. This could easily start off a trend where ‘green’ gets equated with ‘smart economics.’

One of the swift and positive impacts of the 18th Communist Party of China congress has been on the ‘green sector’, what with the ecological agenda getting catapulted to the top of the country’s development plan. Analysts have been quick to point out that the capital market will possibly turn its attention to shares of companies involved in environment protection, energy conservation, water and forestry, as they become major investment options for the long term.

At the start of the week, some of these companies outperformed the Shanghai Composite, with lesser known ‘green’ firms surging 8 to 10 percent, which is the daily limit. Impressive estimates contributed to this ‘light at the end of tunnel’ signal for the beleaguered Shanghai bourse. Up to 8 trillion yuan will be invested in the development of China’s green economy until 2015, according to public announcements from different government bodies.

More to ‘make’

Chinese planners have been at a crossroads, trying to decide if they are willing to sacrifice economic growth to ensure energy efficiency and conservation. But unlike the US, where the environmental agenda is mired in controversy, China has little trouble making its transition to a model focused on energy conservation because it has worked out some ‘smart economics’ in reaching its ‘clean’ goals.

China has to maintain an average economic growth rate of around 7 percent annually, compared with the double-digit it has clocked over the last decade. This time too it is sticking to its time-tested formula of manufacturing clean technologies, spawning a whole lot of new economic activity. This green transition in China’s manufacturing model will have global relevance since production will look at domestic as well as export markets. In 2009, China overtook the United States for the first time as the largest investor in clean technologies industries. This volume will only grow because planners realize only too well that just because development is green, doesn’t mean it cannot be fast.

Demand for energy, and the price of it, is increasing throughout the world, and in these circumstances, technology that uses energy more efficiently will not only help China spend less on oil imports but also give it business and export opportunities. It can move out of lower-end export goods, such as clothes and shoes and concentrate on sending out more technologically advanced goods. Also, lower energy costs paid by citizens can also free up new purchasing power for more consumer items - something that China is trying hard to achieve.

Untapped potential

Since 2011, energy efficiency has improved in the country - energy consumption per unit GDP declined by some 13 per cent. Over the past ten years, the wind-power grid installed capacity increased by 100 times, to the current 45 million kilowatts per year. The installed capacity of solar-power also increased in the past 10 years, from 45,000 kW to about 2 million kW.

But whereas the new energy sector has received enough attention, there is another niche market that is waiting to be unlocked - that is in real estate. The government has already imposed extremely high requirements on energy efficiency in its 12th Five-Year Plan with the building sector classified as one of the three major sectors that will drive the country’s energy efficiency, apart from transport and industry.

Buildings present great potential for energy savings by refurbishing existing ones and establishing stricter building codes. The Chinese buildings market is beginning to adopt the international LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard for high performance green buildings. China requires nearly half its new buildings to be ‘green’ by 2015. This nascent trend will spawn an entire market demand for new materials - sweet music to companies dealing in advanced materials.

The writers is a freelance journalist based in China.