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To Li Yan, the white paper "China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change," and the holding of high-level seminars for technological development and transfers, convey the following message to the world: by taking a leading role in international talks, China is making utmost efforts to urge the rest of the world to construct a substantial agreement at the coming Copenhagen conference in 2009.
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Incidents of extreme weather in China since July 2008. |
"Climate change is getting worse," Li Yan emphasizes. "Almost every week new evidence comes in highlighting the gathering speed and adverse impact of global warming, which is proving much worse than we had earlier expected." All countries should demonstrate determination and willingness to cooperate. "There's no time to loose," Li adds emphatically.
Viewpoints
Xie Zhenhua is vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission. His viewpoints represent, to a certain degree, those of the Chinese government.
-- "As we are at the low end of the industrial chain, transferred emissions of exports manufactured in China account for around 20 percent of the country's total. We are in effect footing other people's bills.
-- "From the energy-saving angle, the present financial crisis has caused certain high energy-consuming enterprises either to stop production or close down. But enterprises that are not high energy-consuming are also affected. The reduction of GDP energy consumption per unit, therefore, prefigures a reduced GDP.
-- "To my knowledge, China's carbon dioxide emissions are roughly the same as those of the United States. But whether or not China's emissions surpass those of the United States is unimportant, as the country's volume of carbon dioxide emissions should be viewed from a historical, objective, fair and overall standpoint.
-- "As regards accumulated emissions, those of the developed countries from the industrial revolution period to 1950 made up 95 percent of the global total, and 77 percent of the global total from 1950 to 2000. In the century from 1904 to 2004, China's total emissions accounted for 8 percent of the global total. From the per capita emissions standpoint, China's population is 1.3 billion and that of the United States is 300 million. If, hypothetically, the total emissions of the two countries were the same, China's per capita emissions would nonetheless be one-fourth those of the United States.
"As regards stage of development, China is in the industrialization and urbanization stage that generates high carbon dioxide emissions which developed countries underwent during their industrialization process. Yet, the developed countries' total emissions in the 15 years beginning in 1990 increased 11 percent, although they had achieved industrialization and modernization long before that 15-year period. China's accelerated emissions during this period, therefore, reflect an objective law.
-- "As regards emission reductions, we hope that by 2020 total emissions from the developed countries will have been reduced by 25-40 percent from the levels of 1990 in accordance with IPCC suggestions. We also hope that the developed countries honor their due responsibilities of technical transfers and funding, according to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the Kyoto Protocol."
Emission Reduction Figures
-- In 2007, China's energy consumption per unit of GDP fell 3.66 percent. During the years 2006 and 2007, the amount of energy China saved equaled 147 million tons of standard coal, representing 335-million-ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Small thermal power generating sets with a total of 14.38 million kW capacity, old fashioned iron smelters with a total of 46.59 million-ton capacity and low-tech cement producers with a total of 52 million-ton capacity were closed down in 2007, and in the same year China utilized renewable energy equivalent to 2.2 billion tons of standard coal, representing a 500 million-ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. In 2006 and 2007 China installed a total of 3.05 million kW of wind power generators at an average annual growth rate of 148 percent. By the end of 2007, 26 million Chinese households had switched to methane gas, which reduced by 16 million tons annual standard coal use, equal to a 44 million-ton carbon dioxide emission reduction.
-- China has implemented policies and addressed climate change in agriculture, forestry, natural ecosystems and water resources; also on coastlines and in coastal areas. By the end of 2007, China had tackled one million square kilometers of soil erosion.
At present, renewable energy makes up 8.3 percent of China's primary energy utilization. This figure is expected to reach 10 percent in 2010 and 15 percent in 2020, with investment of RMB 2 trillion.
Government Actions
-- China's National Climate Change Program: Promulgated in June 2007, this is the first national program on climate to have been formulated in any developing country. Its short-term objective is an overall 20 percent reduction in per unit of GDP energy consumption and an overall 10 percent reduction in pollution emissions by 2010, from the level of 2005.
-- China has established a leading group headed by Premier Wen Jiabao to cope with climate change, energy saving and emissions reduction.
-- In June 2008 China initiated provincial projects tackling climate change and promoting implementation of the China National Climate Change Program.
-- Legal construction has steadily advanced. In 1994, the Chinese government drafted and promulgated a sustainable development strategy — China's Agenda 21: White Paper on China's Population, Environment and Development in the 21st Century — and in 1996, for the first time in China's history, made sustainable socio-economic development a main guideline and strategic target. In 2003, the Chinese government drafted the Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early 21st Century, and in 2004 the State Council passed the China Medium and Long Term Energy Development Plan Outlines 2004-2020 (draft). The same year, the National Development and Reform Commission promulgated China's first Medium and Long Term Energy Conservation Plan, and in February 2005 the National People's Congress examined and passed the Renewable Energy Law of the People's Republic of China. The State Council issued two documents in August 2005: Circular on Carrying out Key Works for Establishing a Resources-saving Society; and Several Opinions on Speeding up the Development of the Recycling Economy. In October 2005 the Chinese government promulgated the revised Measures for the Operation and Management of Clean Development Mechanism Projects. In December of the same year, the State Council promulgated the Decision on Promulgating the 'Interim Provisions on Promoting Industrial Structure Adjustment' for Implementation, and the Decision on Materializing the Scientific Viewpoint of Development and Strengthening Environmental Protection. Less than a year later in August 2006, the State Council promulgated the Decision on Strengthening Energy-saving Work.
-- Scientific research is in full swing. China has carried out extensive research on global climate change, its impact and suitable countermeasures. This includes research on global climate change and environment policies, the formation mechanism and forecasting of major climatic disasters in China, the carbon cycle in China's terrestrial ecosystems and its driving mechanism, the carbon budget of China's terrestrial and marginal sea ecosystems, and the trend and impact of climate change and changes to sea levels. China also administrated compilation of the National Evaluation Report on Climate Change, and in 2007 published China's Scientific and Technological Options for Coping with Climate Change.
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