Hu Says China Committed To Fighting Climate Change

Ben Blanchard, PlanetArk 24 Feb 10;

BEIJING - President Hu Jintao said on Tuesday China was committed to fighting climate change, both at home and in cooperation with the rest of the world, but stopped short of offering any new policies.

Britain, Sweden and other countries have accused China of obstructing December's Copenhagen climate summit, which ended with a non-binding accord that set a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius but was scant on details.

Chinese officials have said their country would never accept outside checks of its plans to slow greenhouse gas emissions and could only make a promise of "increasing transparency."

Hu told a study meeting attended by senior politicians, including Premier Wen Jiabao, that China took the problem seriously, state television reported.

"We must fully recognize the importance, urgency and difficulty of dealing with climate change," the report paraphrased Hu as saying. "We must make it an important strategy for our socio-economic development."

The government says some areas of the country are already seeing the effects of climate change, with higher temperatures and reduced rainfall in some parts and stronger storms in others.

China has pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each unit of economic growth by 40-45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels.

This "carbon intensity" goal would let China's greenhouse gas emissions keep rising, but more slowly than economic growth.

Hu said energy saving, emission cuts and environmental awareness must be inculcated into not only every government worker but Chinese society as a whole, state television said.

"Climate change is a common, important challenge faced by countries around the world," he said. "For a long time, we have paid a great deal of importance to tackling the climate change issue on the basis of being responsible to our own people and the people of the world."

As the world's biggest emitter, China has faced growing pressure from developed countries and some poor ones to set firmer and deeper goals to curb its greenhouse gases.

China says its emissions historically have been much lower than the developed world's, and its emissions per capita are still much lower than those of wealthy societies.

"Dealing with the problem must be done on the basis of the country's economic development," Hu said.

"We must proactively participate in global cooperation to fight climate change," he said.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

China's Hu says tackling climate change 'urgent'
Yahoo News 24 Feb 10;

BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese President Hu Jintao has said the country must urgently confront climate change and make it a central part of the government's development strategy, state media said Wednesday.

Britain and other countries have accused China of vetoing attempts to give legal force to an agreement at UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December and blocking an agreement on reductions in global emissions.

China, the world's biggest carbon polluter, has said it was never planning to accept outside reviews of its efforts to slow greenhouse gas emissions at the talks in Denmark.

Hu, addressing a Communist Party politburo "study meeting" on Tuesday, said China was committed to fighting climate change, and should boost environmental awareness among the population at large, the China Daily reported.

"We must fully recognise the importance, urgency and difficulty of dealing with climate change," Hu said.

"We must make it an important strategy for our socio-economic development."

Premier Wen Jiabao, who attended Tuesday's meeting, said China would continue to play "an active and constructive role" in working with the international community to reach a comprehensive and binding climate deal.

China has submitted its plans to fight climate change to the United Nations but described them as voluntary and has not formally endorsed the Copenhagen deal.

Beijing has repeatedly said rich countries should take the lead in committing to substantial emission reduction targets and provide financing to developing countries battling climate change.

Hu's comments came at high-level discussions signalling China will roll out economic and industrial policies aimed at fighting climate change as part of its five-year plan for 2011-15, the newspaper said.