Post by warriorwitch on Jun 4, 2007 7:01:35 GMT
China says climate policy must make room for growth
By Emma Graham-Harrison and Chris Buckley Reuters - 22 minutes agoBEIJING (Reuters) - China promised on Monday to integrate climate change policy into its industrial and energy sectors, but said it would not sacrifice economic growth to satisfy international demands to help combat global warming.
China's first national plan on climate change vows to combat global warming through energy saving, agricultural adaptation, and forest expansion. The plan promises "to integrate climate change policy into other interrelated policies".
But the broad blueprint also says developed nations bear the most blame for filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases that are heating the globe.
The unveiling of Beijing's climate action plan comes two days before President Hu Jintao attends a meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Germany at which global warming will be major issue.
China on Monday also welcomed U.S. President George Bush's proposals on global warming as a "positive change", but stressed that any new agreements should not displace the main U.N. treaty on global warming, the Kyoto Protocol.
The Bush plan aims to gather representatives from 15 top polluting nations, including China, this year to discuss climate change and come up with long-term goals to combat global warming by the end of 2008.
Ma Kai, chief of China's National Development and Reform Commission, which steers climate policy, said any new agreement should complement, not displace, the Kyoto Protocol.
China, the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States, is under international pressure to spell out targets for taming greenhouse gas emissions, which are trapping more heat in the atmosphere and threatening rising seas, increased droughts and floods and more intense storms.
CLEAN POWER, CLEVER CROPS
The country of 1.3 billion people says it is tackling greenhouse gas emissions but ensuring economic growth was also a top priority.
"The first and overriding priorities of developing countries are sustainable development and poverty eradication," says the plan.
Among other steps, the 60-page document promises to encourage clean power generation, develop new crop varieties that can withstand long dry spells, and to expand forests that will soak up carbon dioxide.
China said it was willing to cooperate with other nations to combat the threat of climate change, but Ma said developed countries had the "unshirkable responsibility" for taking the lead in tacking global warming.
"The international community should respect the developing countries' right to develop," Ma told a news conference when unveiling the plan.
He also disputed a European Union proposal seeking to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, saying it did not have scientific backing and needed further study.
Talks have yet to get under way in earnest on negotiating an extension to the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, when the first phase of the 1997 pact ends.
G8 host Germany wants nations to agree to a target of completing talks on a post-Kyoto pact by 2009 but has met resistance, including from Japan.
China and other developing countries signed the Kyoto Protocol, but under the first phase they do not have to set goals for emissions.
Beijing is willing to strengthen international cooperation on climate change, but any regional cooperation should "complement" the Kyoto Protocol, the Chinese plan says.
President Bush has signalled he might seek an international agreement on the issue outside of the Kyoto framework.
"Regional cooperation on climate change, in any form, should function as a helpful complement to the UNFCCC (U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the Kyoto Protocol rather than replacing or weakening them," China's plan states.
The national plan spells out the threats that China sees from global warming in coming decades, such as intensified droughts, and warns of "increasing instability in agricultural production" and declines in grain yields unless adaptation steps are taken.
China hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through more use of hydropower, wind and biomass energy, boosting nuclear power generation and increasing the efficiency of coal-burning stations, the plan says.
By Emma Graham-Harrison and Chris Buckley Reuters - 22 minutes agoBEIJING (Reuters) - China promised on Monday to integrate climate change policy into its industrial and energy sectors, but said it would not sacrifice economic growth to satisfy international demands to help combat global warming.
China's first national plan on climate change vows to combat global warming through energy saving, agricultural adaptation, and forest expansion. The plan promises "to integrate climate change policy into other interrelated policies".
But the broad blueprint also says developed nations bear the most blame for filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases that are heating the globe.
The unveiling of Beijing's climate action plan comes two days before President Hu Jintao attends a meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Germany at which global warming will be major issue.
China on Monday also welcomed U.S. President George Bush's proposals on global warming as a "positive change", but stressed that any new agreements should not displace the main U.N. treaty on global warming, the Kyoto Protocol.
The Bush plan aims to gather representatives from 15 top polluting nations, including China, this year to discuss climate change and come up with long-term goals to combat global warming by the end of 2008.
Ma Kai, chief of China's National Development and Reform Commission, which steers climate policy, said any new agreement should complement, not displace, the Kyoto Protocol.
China, the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States, is under international pressure to spell out targets for taming greenhouse gas emissions, which are trapping more heat in the atmosphere and threatening rising seas, increased droughts and floods and more intense storms.
CLEAN POWER, CLEVER CROPS
The country of 1.3 billion people says it is tackling greenhouse gas emissions but ensuring economic growth was also a top priority.
"The first and overriding priorities of developing countries are sustainable development and poverty eradication," says the plan.
Among other steps, the 60-page document promises to encourage clean power generation, develop new crop varieties that can withstand long dry spells, and to expand forests that will soak up carbon dioxide.
China said it was willing to cooperate with other nations to combat the threat of climate change, but Ma said developed countries had the "unshirkable responsibility" for taking the lead in tacking global warming.
"The international community should respect the developing countries' right to develop," Ma told a news conference when unveiling the plan.
He also disputed a European Union proposal seeking to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, saying it did not have scientific backing and needed further study.
Talks have yet to get under way in earnest on negotiating an extension to the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, when the first phase of the 1997 pact ends.
G8 host Germany wants nations to agree to a target of completing talks on a post-Kyoto pact by 2009 but has met resistance, including from Japan.
China and other developing countries signed the Kyoto Protocol, but under the first phase they do not have to set goals for emissions.
Beijing is willing to strengthen international cooperation on climate change, but any regional cooperation should "complement" the Kyoto Protocol, the Chinese plan says.
President Bush has signalled he might seek an international agreement on the issue outside of the Kyoto framework.
"Regional cooperation on climate change, in any form, should function as a helpful complement to the UNFCCC (U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the Kyoto Protocol rather than replacing or weakening them," China's plan states.
The national plan spells out the threats that China sees from global warming in coming decades, such as intensified droughts, and warns of "increasing instability in agricultural production" and declines in grain yields unless adaptation steps are taken.
China hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through more use of hydropower, wind and biomass energy, boosting nuclear power generation and increasing the efficiency of coal-burning stations, the plan says.