'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.