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12-12-2007, 11:26 AM
Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, said nations should look beyond their financial self-interest and set emission limits, to ensure efforts to curb climate change aren't interrupted.
China passed the U.S. last year to become the world's largest source of carbon dioxide gas, from burning fossil fuels and producing cement, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The Asian nation and other fast-growing economies must be given more leeway on greenhouse gases as they pursue polices to promote growth and reduce poverty, Chinese economic official Xie Zhenhua said.
Ministers from more than 130 countries are meeting today on the Indonesian island of Bali to discuss an accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The U.S. has said it rejected the Kyoto treaty and its emissions limits in part because developing nations including China weren't required to cut greenhouse gases, putting the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage.
Emission limits need to be urgently negotiated so ``an agreement can be reached by 2009 to stop the gap between the two periods'' when Kyoto expires and a new accord begins, Xie, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, said today at the United Nations- sponsored climate conference.
Curbing Consumption
China is ``earnestly'' seeking to address the issue of climate change by curbing energy consumption and emissions, Premier Wen Jiabao said Nov. 21. The nation has a plan to reduce the amount of energy used to generate each unit of gross domestic product by one-fifth by 2010 from 2005 levels.
The ``most urgent need was for developed nations to meet targets in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which runs for the five years starting next year,'' Xie said at the UN Climate Change Conference. ``We must look beyond our narrow self-interest.''
By boosting energy efficiency and other measures, China has saved 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in the 15 years through 2005, Xie said. The nation will spend $20 billion this year to develop renewable energy, he said.
Chinese officials have argued that their country can't do as much to control global warming as the U.S. or Europe.
``Whether the U.S. participates or not, and no matter what the outcomes of the conference will be, China will actively seek to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions,'' Xie told delegates at the conference. ` `We will absolutely not commit ourselves to the same mandatory targets as developed nations.''
Reliance on Coal
China burns coal to generate 78 percent of the electricity used in the world's biggest energy-consuming nation after the U.S. Pressure to curb emissions conflicts increased demand for power generation in an economy that's growing faster than any other major market.
The country's power demand may rise 13.5 percent next year, the State Grid Corp. of China said Nov. 12.
Most developing countries ``are in the process of industrialization and urbanization, and they face the arduous task of eliminating poverty,'' Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said on Nov. 9 in Beijing. ``Their need for increased energy and greenhouse-gas emissions is inevitable, and they need a reasonable process of continued growth.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=a1S5lK3BeaRw
China passed the U.S. last year to become the world's largest source of carbon dioxide gas, from burning fossil fuels and producing cement, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The Asian nation and other fast-growing economies must be given more leeway on greenhouse gases as they pursue polices to promote growth and reduce poverty, Chinese economic official Xie Zhenhua said.
Ministers from more than 130 countries are meeting today on the Indonesian island of Bali to discuss an accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The U.S. has said it rejected the Kyoto treaty and its emissions limits in part because developing nations including China weren't required to cut greenhouse gases, putting the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage.
Emission limits need to be urgently negotiated so ``an agreement can be reached by 2009 to stop the gap between the two periods'' when Kyoto expires and a new accord begins, Xie, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, said today at the United Nations- sponsored climate conference.
Curbing Consumption
China is ``earnestly'' seeking to address the issue of climate change by curbing energy consumption and emissions, Premier Wen Jiabao said Nov. 21. The nation has a plan to reduce the amount of energy used to generate each unit of gross domestic product by one-fifth by 2010 from 2005 levels.
The ``most urgent need was for developed nations to meet targets in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which runs for the five years starting next year,'' Xie said at the UN Climate Change Conference. ``We must look beyond our narrow self-interest.''
By boosting energy efficiency and other measures, China has saved 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in the 15 years through 2005, Xie said. The nation will spend $20 billion this year to develop renewable energy, he said.
Chinese officials have argued that their country can't do as much to control global warming as the U.S. or Europe.
``Whether the U.S. participates or not, and no matter what the outcomes of the conference will be, China will actively seek to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions,'' Xie told delegates at the conference. ` `We will absolutely not commit ourselves to the same mandatory targets as developed nations.''
Reliance on Coal
China burns coal to generate 78 percent of the electricity used in the world's biggest energy-consuming nation after the U.S. Pressure to curb emissions conflicts increased demand for power generation in an economy that's growing faster than any other major market.
The country's power demand may rise 13.5 percent next year, the State Grid Corp. of China said Nov. 12.
Most developing countries ``are in the process of industrialization and urbanization, and they face the arduous task of eliminating poverty,'' Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said on Nov. 9 in Beijing. ``Their need for increased energy and greenhouse-gas emissions is inevitable, and they need a reasonable process of continued growth.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=a1S5lK3BeaRw