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  PlanetArk 5 Jun 07
Key Facts on China and Climate Change

PlanetArk 5 Jun 07
Experts React to China's Climate Change Plan

Yahoo News 4 Jun 07
China ready to fight global warming, but not at any cost
by Robert J. Saiget

China said Monday it is committed to fighting climate change but insisted its economic development must come first and that rich nations should shoulder the main burden.

Unveiling its first national strategy for tackling global warming, China also maintained it would not commit to any caps on the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming as this would curb the nation's economic boom.

"The consequences of restricting the development of developing nations will be much more serious than the consequences of global warming," Ma Kai, China's top economic planner, told journalists as he released the 62-page report.

The report emphasised that China only had a "limited capacity to tackle climate change" due to its huge population, its status as a developing nation and the high percentage of coal in the nation's energy mix.

Nevertheless, Ma said China was genuine in its commitment to combating global warming and green groups cautiously welcomed the new plan, even though it was mainly a compilation of previously announced policies.

Ma said China's top priorities were to make its economy more energy efficient and to place a greater focus on its badly degraded environment.

"This process itself will be part of China's contribution to the world's sustainable development and to global efforts to address climate changes," he said.

Chief among the important planks of the strategy, China will boost its energy efficiency -- measured in the amount of energy used per unit of gross domestic product -- by 20 percent by 2010.

The percentage of renewables in China's energy mix will also rise from about seven percent currently to 10 percent in 2010.

China will further endeavour to increase its forest cover so that trees soak up more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming.

Leading environmental groups Greenpeace and WWF agreed that China's action plan was an important step forward because for the first time it set out a comprehensive global warming strategy for the world's most populous nation.

"The Chinese government has set a responsible and positive example for other countries ... to increase energy consumption efficiency and explore a low-carbon development path," WWF International director general James Leape said.

Greenpeace China also noted that the report laid out some new specific measures on addressing the use of greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels, such as coal, to provide energy.

"The report says fuel pricing, including both oil and coal, will be reformed and prices should be based more on scarcity and the impact on the environment," Beijing-based Greenpeace climate change campaigner Yang Ailun said. "We now want to see the next step, we want to see new taxes or economic measures to drive up the price of coal."

China is one of the most important players in the global fight against climate change because it is the second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, after the United States.

The International Energy Agency expects China to overtake the United States by 2010 or sooner. The report was released two days before President Hu Jintao attends the G8 summit of industrialised powers in Germany, where global warming is expected to be one of the most fiercely debated issues.

China on Monday sought to highlight that rich nations were to blame for the vast majority of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are warming the planet, and the onus was on them to fix the problem.

"The developed countries can not escape the fact that they have the main responsibility for tackling climate change," Ma said.

PlanetArk 5 Jun 07
Key Facts on China and Climate Change

China released its first national plan on climate change on Monday, setting out broad goals for tackling the effects of global warming and for curbing greenhouse gas pollution that is heating up the atmosphere.

Here are some key facts about climate change and China:

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS: - China says global warming poses a serious threat through rising sea levels, worsening droughts in some regions, more unstable rain patterns in others, and melting glaciers. - By 2020, annual mean temperatures could increase by 1.3 to 2.1 degrees Celsius from 2000, and by 2050 the rise could be 2.3 to 3.3 degrees. - If adaptive steps are not taken, global warming could cut nationwide crop production by up to 10 percent by 2030. Wheat, rice and corn growing capacity could fall by up to 37 percent in the second half of the century.

TOTAL EMISSIONS ARE HIGH, PER-CAPITA EMISSIONS ARE LOW: - China's rapid economic growth and huge population of more than 1.3 billion have made it the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States. - The International Energy Agency has said China could emerge as the top emitter of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, as early as this year, a claim disputed by Chinese officials. - China's plan says that between 1994 and 2004, China's greenhouse gas emissions grew by an average 4 percent a year. - Its average per-capita emissions from burning fossil fuels in 2004 were 3.65 tonnes of carbon dioxide, just 33 percent of the average for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

INTERNATIONAL STEPS: - In 2002 China ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which governs international climate change and greenhouse gas obligations. - As a developing country, China is excluded from the current phase of emission cuts in the protocol, but other countries may demand it accept some targets when the next phase of cuts from 2013 are negotiated in coming years. - China joined the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate in 2005. The group, made up of the United States, Australia, India, South Korea, Japan and China, aims to use technology to reduce emissions.

DOMESTIC MEASURES: - In 2005, China depended on coal, the most carbon-dioxide heavy of the fossil fuels, for 68.9 percent of its primary energy consumption, the plan says, and consumption of oil is climbing as vehicle ownership and industry boom. - China's plan proposes expanding nuclear power and clean energy sources to weaken dependence on fossil fuels, as well as upgrading to cleaner coal-fired power stations. - It also aims to expand forests to soak up more carbon dioxide and developing new crop strains to withstand long dry periods. - China's previously released National Climate Change Assessment proposes by 2020 nearly halving from 2000 levels the amount of greenhouse gases emitted to produce each unit of gross domestic product (GDP), but it states emissions per person are likely to top projected developed-nation levels before starting to fall. - China has vowed to cut the energy used to generate each unit of GDP by 20 percent of 2005 levels by 2010. (Sources: China National Climate Change Assessment; China's National Climate Change Programme; Reuters)


PlanetArk 5 Jun 07
Experts React to China's Climate Change Plan

BEIJING - China released its first national plan on climate change on Monday, setting out goals for tackling global warming but stressing that rich nations must take the lead in cutting greenhouse gases. Here are some comments from a senior climate official and other experts:

MA KAI, CHIEF OF THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM COMMISSION, WHICH OVERSEES CHINESE CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY: "The ramifications of limiting the development of developing countries would be even more serious than those from climate change." "Our general stance is that China will not commit to any quantified emissions reduction targets, but that does not mean we will not assume responsibilities in responding to climate change." On technology transfers from advanced countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: "We feel that there's been lots of thunder but little rain, lots of talk but little action."

WENRAN JIANG, EXPERT ON CHINESE ENERGY POLICY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA: "Expecting that China will be ranked with the US as the two countries mostly responsible for global emissions, Beijing wants to put out a clear line of argument that China is not at the rank of the US in terms of emission responsibilities. After much talk about a 'China energy threat', now Beijing sees the coming of talk of a 'China environment threat'."

ZOU JI, CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY EXPERT AT THE PEOPLE'S UNIVERSITY OF CHINA IN BEIJING WHO ADVISED ON THE PLAN: "The position that development shouldn't be sacrificed to climate change measures or emissions quotas is a basic national policy, and it's not going to change. But that doesn't mean there's not room for cooperation or negotiation. It does mean that cooperation has to be on the basis that economic development has to continue."

YANG AILUN, CLIMATE CHANGE CAMPAIGNER FOR GREENPEACE ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP IN BEIJING: "It is quite clear that what China is trying to do is on the one hand try to introduce ambitious domestic measures... but they are taking a very tough stance on international negotiations, like the way that Ma Kai was talking about historical and per-capita emissions."

LIU DESHUN, ENERGY EXPERT AT TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY IN BEIJING: "This plan shows that while China is a developing country and it has no emission cuts obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, it is taking climate change very seriously and acting as a responsible great power. "But we need clean energy sources -- clean coal, alternative energy -- to meet these objectives. If the West can provide advanced technology and funding support, then it will be much easier for China to achieve that transformation."
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