Chinas top climate change official today promised to try to resolve some of the deadlocks marring the UNs climate change negotiations when the country hosts its first official round of talks as part of the long-running process next week in the port city of Tianjin.
Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Chinas lead climate official, told reporters that the week-long talks would aim to "reduce the divergence as much as possible" between industrialised and developing nations so that tangible progress can be achieved at the upcoming UN climate summit in Cancun in November.
The Tianjin talks represent the last official meeting ahead of the Cancun summit, and while Xie said a treaty would not be finalised in Mexico he signalled that a series of important agreements could still be reached this year.
"It seems the Cancun conference is only part of the process of climate change negotiations," he said. "After the conference, we will continue to press ahead and try to reach a binding agreement at the South African conference next year. "
Striking a conciliatory tone, he said he hoped both industrialised and developing nations will prove willing to compromise on the contentious issues of emission-reduction targets and transparent carbon reporting.
He said he wanted to see developed countries "do more and do better in taking the lead in substantially reducing energy and pollutants while providing financial and technological transfer to help developing countries increase their capacity to tackle climate change". He added that in return emerging economies "will do our best to increase the transparency of our measures in terms of tackling climate change and integrate our measures into global efforts ".
The US and China have been deadlocked on the issue of carbon targets and transparency, with US diplomats demanding China provide greater evidence that it will adhere to emissions targets, and China countering that the US is not doing enough to cut its own carbon footprint.
Xie also confirmed that Chinas non-binding commitment to cut its carbon intensity by between 40 and 45 per cent by 2020 based on 2005 levels will be formally adopted as part of the countrys next 12th five-year economic plan, which is due for launch next year.
China has been criticised for adopting a target that will still allow it to increase emissions as its economy grows - albeit at a slower rate.
But Xie insisted the goal was still hugely ambitious and would require massive investment in clean technology from the government.
"To achieve the 2020 target will need considerable effort, because the easiest problems were already generally dealt with in the 11th five-year plan, but it will be more difficult in the 12th and 13th ones (to 2020)," he told reporters. "So this goal is not one that will be easy to reach."
He added that the country would ultimately be willing to adopt further emissions targets and could roll out a national carbon trading scheme, but warned that such moves are not likely to take place in the near future.
source: APEC-VC Korea
