'No intention' of capping emissions
By Lan Lan China Daily
25 February 2010
But country 'still committed' to reducing carbon intensity
China has no intention of capping its greenhouse gas
emissions even as authorities are committed to realizing the nation's
target to reduce carbon intensity through new policies and measures,
the country's top climate change negotiators said yesterday.
The negotiators also warned that rich and developing countries have
little hope of overcoming key disagreements over how to fight global
warming.
China "could not and should not" set an upper limit on
greenhouse gas emissions at the current phase, said Su Wei, the chief
negotiator of China for climate change talks in Copenhagen, at a
meeting in Beijing on China's climate change policies in the
post-Copenhagen era.
Su, who is also director of the department of
combating climate change under the National Development and Reform
Commission, said that China's greenhouse gas emissions have to grow
correspondingly as the country still has a long way to go in
improving people's livelihoods and eradicating poverty.
The country's carbon dioxide emissions per capita is also relatively low
compared to developed countries and China has not contributed much to
climate change because of its short history as an industrial nation, he said.
However, China will spare no effort to adopt proactive
measures to fight the negative effects caused by global warming and
achieve the country's ambitious goal of cutting carbon intensity per
GDP unit by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, a voluntary target China
pledged last November, he said.
"The targets for carbon intensity reduction will be included in the 12th and 13th five-year plans (2011-15; 2016-20) as a binding index," he said.
The targets remain a very challenging task for China, as its secondary industry
comprises a large part of the country's industrial structure, said Ma
Zhong, a professor at the Renmin University of China.
The secondary industry accounted for 46.8 percent of China's 2009 general domestic
income, official statistics showed.
Carbon emissions caused by manufacturing sectors account for about two-thirds of total emissions in developing countries, while emissions of the service sector have
the same ratio in developed countries, researchers have said. China
will introduce a carbon emissions check system for the steel industry
and a fuel efficiency management system for automotive products, as
well as initiate demonstration projects in the petrochemical
industry, Premier Wen Jiabao said at an executive meeting of the
State Council, China's Cabinet, yesterday.
Similarly, fighting climate change was highlighted as a major national strategy as well
as an important opportunity for economic structure adjustment by the
country's top leadership at a meeting on Tuesday.
Many hope a legally binding climate change treaty, which failed to be signed at
the Copenhagen conference, will be finalized at a UN meeting in
Mexico in December.
Yu Qingtai, China's special representative for
climate change negotiations, said yesterday that players could face
hard times in this year's climate negotiations.
Developed countries are unlikely to change their tune and will continue to be reluctant
in promising emission cuts and utilizing green funds, he said. They
will also pressure developing countries into shouldering unreasonable
responsibilities and the so-called new emerging big countries will
remain their main targets, he said.
Yu said China will stick to the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and work
together with international communities, though a divergence of views
on vital issues will be a long-standing problem.
A vast majority of developing countries are in the initial or middle stage of
industrialization, which is characterized by high carbon intensity,
while rich countries have completed industrialization and transferred
a large part of manufacturing functions to developing countries, said
Qi Ye, a professor of Tsinghua University.
"Both developed and developing countries are facing heavy costs in efforts of cutting
emissions. Developed countries are striving to sustain their vested
interests while developing countries are seeking the rights for
development," said Pan Jiahua, a senior researcher with the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
Developing countries will lose their future edge in terms of development speed, scale and level if they have no space for emissions, Pan said.