China unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions on Thursday, a carbon intensity goal that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to climate talks next month as his country's central commitment. The announcement came a day after the United States unveiled its proposal to cut greenhouse gases by 2020 and said President Barack Obama would attend the UN-led talks in Copenhagen.
-- Premier Wen to go to Copenhagen climate talks
-- UN calls target morale booster for troubled talks
China, the top emitter of greenhouse gases from human activity, said Wen would also attend the December 7-18 talks and pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each yuan of national income 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.
The offer was hailed as a vital political commitment towards rekindling stalled negotiations to fix a new framework for tackling global warming, even though analysts cautioned it was technically quite modest for China. "It is very similar to the previous 15 years of progress," said Jim Watson, who studies emissions trajectories at the Tyndall Centre for climate change research in Britain. "Add to that further economic restructuring over time, and this goal sounds eminently doable. But certainly it's very helpful for Copenhagen to have this number on the table."
The talks have run out of time to settle a legally binding deal after rancorous arguments between rich and poor nations about who should cut emissions, by how much and who should pay.
But hopes are growing that a substantive political pact can be agreed at the December meeting instead. China's target comes after big emitters Brazil and Indonesia also announced tough 2020 reduction targets. Wednesday's 2020 target from the United States and Obama's attendance are also expected to help the Copenhagen talks, analysts say.
"This is a huge morale booster," said John Hay, spokesman for the UN Climate Change Secretariat, referring to both the Chinese target and the planned visit by Obama. But in a reminder of the serious disputes that still shadow the summit, China's top climate envoy took aim at developed nations he said were slacking in their efforts to cut emissions and said new Chinese target was only "domestically binding".
"So far we have not seen concrete actions and substantive commitments by the developed countries," Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of powerful planning body the National Development and Reform Committee, told a hastily arranged news conference in Beijing. China's cabinet said that its goal, which will still allow greenhouse gas emissions to grow as the economy expands, was a demanding one for the developing country. It will unveil new policies including taxes and financial steps to reach it. Extra reductions could therefore come from expansion of forests, which absorb carbon dioxide, and other emission "sinks".
A five-year drive to boost energy efficiency and renewables by 2010 will take Beijing around half-way to meeting the carbon intensity goal by the end of this decade.
The United States will pledge in Copenhagen to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, a drop of about 3 percent below the 1990 benchmark year used in UN treaties - far below the 25-40 percent cut recommended by the UN climate panel. In a fast-moving week of climate developments, Australia's troubled carbon trade scheme was thrown into confusion on Thursday after several opposition lawmakers resigned their party positions and promised to ignore a deal to support the government's planned laws. A day earlier, neighbouring New Zealand passed their revised carbon trading laws, the second emissions trading scheme to win approval after Europe's began in 2005.