China unveils plan to cut greenhouse gases
5/6/2007 9:18
China yesterday issued a new national plan outlining steps to address
climate change and show its determination to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Under its National Climate Change Program, China pledged to
restructure its economy, promote clean technologies and improve energy
efficiency.
The plan is proof of China's determination to reduce
emissions, said Ma Kai, minister in charge of the National Development and
Reform Commission.
The plan does not set out specific goals for
reductions in carbon dioxide discharges, however.
"The absence of any
quantified targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions does not mean China
isn't serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions," the top economic planner
told a press conference in Beijing two days ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit
to Germany for a G8 meeting at which global warming will top the
agenda.
China has come under increasing pressure from industrialized
countries to reduce its output of carbon dioxide, considered to be a chief
contributor to global warming.
By adopting its new plan, China has opted
not to hide behind the fact that the Kyoto Protocol does not obligate developing
nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.
If all the
objectives in the program are achieved, the world's most populous country would
cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 billion tons. Those objectives include
growth in hydro and nuclear power, thermal power generation upgrades,
coal-bed-gas development and the use of renewable energy resources such as wind
power, solar power and terrestrial heat.
Citing figures from the
International Energy Agency, Ma rebutted the argument that China is harming the
global environment.
"I don't see how China can be labeled a menace," Ma
said. "Compared with the industrialized countries, until recently China had low
greenhouse gas emissions, and its emissions are still relatively low in
per-capita terms." "Increases in China's gross domestic product have led to
smaller rises in carbon dioxide discharges than in other countries. This kind of
talk is grossly exaggerated and unfair," he said.
In 2004, China's
per-capita carbon dioxide emissions were 3.65 tons, compared with a world
average of 4.2 tons and an average of 10.95 tons for the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
Ma pointed out that a
one-percent rise in GDP leads to an average 0.6 percent increase in carbon
dioxide emissions worldwide, but the Chinese figure is only 0.38
percent.
"Even if China overtakes the United States one day in total
carbon dioxide discharges, given that the former's population is five times as
much as the latter, China's per-capita greenhouse gas emission would remain low
compared with the US," Ma said.
The minister advocated a more objective
methodology to evaluate carbon dioxide emissions, pointing out that
globalization had shifted a significant amount of production to developing
countries, increasing their energy consumption.
Xinhua
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