China's transition to a low-carbon economy and sustainable development

Blog 1 Transition to a Low or No Carbon Economy Global climatic change which has increased carbon content calls for the development of novel mechanisms for shifting to a no- or low- carbon economy. Such mechanisms revolve around the acceleration of a global- scale low- carbon economic development trend, promotion of a radical energy system reform, a human civilizational shift from an industrial to an eco- civilization, and boosting of a fundamental transformation in social consumption/ production mode (Solana, 2015, n.p.). The urgent need for a global- scale low- carbon shift will reform the competitive situation of our world’s technology, economy, and trade. Guided by eco- civilizational construction, China and several other nations have been considering low-carbon, green development. China, in particular, has impressive INDC (intended nationally determined contribution) goals and plans for action in place, and has undertaken a radical energy production- consumption revolution, speeding up its economic development transformation (He, 2016, p.205). Such actions and approaches confirm the low- carbon shift as well as fulfill intrinsic environmental and domestic resource constraint alleviation requirements to realize sustainable development. These are multi-win-win approaches to mitigate carbon emissions and promote economic growth and environment protection. No/ low carbon economic shifts require taking guidance from international long-run emission reduction goals and the formulation of long- and medium- term low- carbon economic development approaches. According to Solana (2015, n.p.), transitioning nations ought to develop core competitiveness in the area of state-of-the-art low- carbon technology and developmental pattern, participating extensively in international governance for reflecting the nation’s responsibility as a major power in the construction of a society of common human destiny and in dealing with the current worldwide ecological crisis. Agrarian sectoral shift to no/ low carbon economy might prove challenging in several ways. Firstly, when serious action is taken for stopping climate change, massive fossil fuel resources will become stranded. That these assets form several investment portfolios’ main tranche is an inescapable reality, but not a cause for reconsidering our decision (Zhang, 2016, p.188). Fortunately, there has been growing public awareness regarding fossil fuel consumption’s impacts. Another challenge is climate change’s universal nature – in theory, this is a typical public-goods issue. Nations shirk away from taking action to serve their own interests, while everyone else does. Further aggravating the issue is: the benefits of today’s actions add up in the long run (Zhang, 2016, p.189). Once again, evolving climate change related perceptions renew hopes for progress. Governments across the world galvanized by the growth in public awareness as well as growing evidence that nations’ economies may earn net benefits associated with climate change mitigation policies have been vowing to do the same, and relying on multilateral forums for displaying these commitments (Zhang, 2016, p.201).

Blog 2 Personal Leadership Opportunity is about sustainability Sustainability leadership puts common theories on who can be considered a leader to the test and suggests that anybody who assumes responsibility for grasping and taking action on sustainability-related challenges is a ‘sustainability leader,’ irrespective of whether he/ she holds a formal leadership position (Ferdig, 2010, p.26). Such an individual doesn’t lead over people but with people, accounting for the long-run viability of multifaceted, interconnected life systems. A sustainability leader realizes that the change experience itself, together with its associated dissonance, drives fresh thought, ideas and inventions capable of revitalizing community, organizational and global health (Ferdig, 2010, p.27). I believe that balancing simultaneous and occasionally conflicting demands for environmental, economic, and social sustainability solutions is a sound leadership opportunity that is, in the end, founded on a personal ethic traversing self-interest. I am of the view that, to achieve success in the present day, I need to know how to accurately identify and implement the right ethical, political and economic incentives for actually integrating sustainable development in followers’ everyday lives (Baker, 2014, p.356). Personally, I feel this aspect hasn’t been dealt with appropriately during the last two decades. In the past 5 years, our world has undergone substantial change with its nerve not focused around ‘developed economies’ only – developing nations have also acquired a rather significant global weight (Baker, 2014, p.358). Considering this, the leaders of tomorrow need to be vigilant when it comes to the opportunities and challenges for future innovation arising out of these nations’ corporations and communities. Currently, leadership opportunity vital to sustainable, effective leadership needs rational concrete individuals seeking valuable solutions which serve a particular cause (Penney & Neilson, 2010, p.40). These individuals need to concentrate on the precise details and facts and be precise in their end results. Additionally, they need to enjoy synergy and spending time in the company of one another. They need to share feelings, and be patient and respectful. They need to enjoy unconventional, novel ideas and be comfortable with doing different things and digging deeper into issues (Ferdig, 2010, p.27). Finally, they need to be ambitious, have lofty goals, offer inventive solutions, and see the bigger picture from diverse perspectives. Leadership success is a complex measure. But judging a leader in terms of his/ her sustainability will probably help one understand whether or not the individual has achieved success by holding everybody accountable. Change leadership can’t stop at the top (executive) level, or the top 100 or 1000 managers (Penney & Neilson, 2010, p.39). It requires the participation of each and every member in the organization. Change leaders need to make sure organization- wide change is a collective, collaborative effort, distributing accountability all over the organization.