CHINA: Climate chief says China is set on curbing fossil fuels but doesn't mention a cap on greenhouse gases

China is determined to curb fossil fuels behind global warming, the nation's top climate official said on Tuesday (February 6, 2007) - the first extended public reaction to a UN report on climate change last week that blamed global warming on greenhouse gases from factories, power stations and vehicles. But Qin Dahe (pron: cheen dah huh), chief of the China Meteorological Administration, declined to comment on whether the nation would ever cap greenhouse gas emissions. Qin did say the nation's leaders worried that global warming, bringing intensifying droughts, floods and heat waves in its wake, will undermine development goals. And asked what China plans to do, Qin stressed Beijing's commitment to improving energy efficiency by 20 percent in coming years, and shifting its overwhelming dependence on coal, one of the main fuel sources of greenhouse gases. "Can we achieve this challenging goal? I have been to the State Council meeting in which Premier Wen (Jiabao) took a very serious attitude toward the problem. He demanded all provinces achieve the goal of (reducing the energy consumption by) twenty percent," said Qin Dahe. China is on course to overtake the United States by 2009 as the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases that warm the planet. Qin admitted that coal was the problem, but stopped short of giving any information on whether the nation would embrace caps on emission. "Unlike other countries, China is not enriched in oil. Our main energy source, as far as I know, is coal which counts for 69% of our total energy source. Coal is not clean. China is a country with rapid economic development and a large population, and has a long way to go in order to change its energy structure by using more clean energy," said Qin. Qin said the nation was actively developing other energy sources. "China is speeding up development and utilization of hydro-power, nuclear power and coal-compressed gas. Bio-energy, solar energy and wind energy are also being encouraged to be developed in rural and remote areas if conditions allow," said Qin. Qin's comments reflected China's awkward status as both a major producer of greenhouse gases but also a victim of potentially catastrophic climate change. China is hurtling to possibly become the world's third-biggest economy by 2008, overtaking Germany and lagging only Japan and the United States. But that growth has been fuelled by coal-burning power stations and wheezing factories. Chinese officials point to their country's relatively low per capita emissions of greenhouse gases and the main culprits are developed nations, who have no right to deny economic growth to others. Despite its refusal to cap emissions, the nation isn't sitting still on finding ways around coal. Officials aim to boost the portion of its energy that comes from renewable sources to 16 percent of total supply from the current 7 percent by 2020.

ITN Source | February 6, 2007

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