Assistant Secretary Karsner Visits China
November 20, 2007
Alexander Karsner, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, met with representatives of the People’s Republic of China to discuss an agreement for developing biofuels. The agreement calls for using “non-edible” feedstocks for processes in development, and will form a cornerstone of the China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue to be held in December.
“We have not concluded a biofuel agreement yet,” said Assistant Secretary Karsner, in remarks to the Xinhua News Agency on November 16. “We have a biofuel agreement draft circulating between the United States and China, and we expect progress in the coming weeks.”
Assistant Secretary Karsner added that China will be the first Asian nation to sign such a biofuels agreement. “Through our agreement with China, we hope to transfer this knowledge and expertise,” he said, adding that the United States’ goal is to reduce gasoline consumption by 20% over ten years.
Assistant Secretary Karsner met with Zhang Guobao, deputy head of China’s National Development and Reform Commission. China is the world’s third largest producer of ethanol and has set goals to boost its proportion of renewable energy to 16% by 2020 from a current level of 7%.
