Opinion/Analysis
China's carbon cut 'voluntary action': experts
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-02 16:16
Climate experts said Tuesday it was "unnecessary" for China to receive international inspections on its greenhouse gas emissions cut as the target setting was a "voluntary action" taken by the Chinese government "based on its own national conditions.
Instead, China would try to achieve its emissions cut target via domestic measurement, supervision, assessment and accountability mechanism, they said.
The State Council, or the Chinese cabinet, announced last week that China was going to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent compared with the level of 2005.
Chen Ying, a senior research fellow of the Research Center for Sustainable Development under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said it was "obviously unreasonable" for China to be subject to international supervision as the target was decided by the Chinese government itself, and it was not an internationally sanctioned binding promise.
According to experts, international inspections only apply to developed countries, which, under the Kyoto Protocol signed by most nations in 1997, should carry out quantified emissions cut promises and follow the principle of actions being "measurable, reportable and verifiable."
China had no intention of receiving international inspections on carrying out the target as the country would "mainly use its own resources to achieve it," said Yu Qingtai, special representative of the Foreign Ministry for the UN climate change talks.
Yu said the country had no plan to seek international financial support to help it trim emissions.
The obligations for developing countries, under the Bali Road Map, agreed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties in 2007, are to take "mitigation" actions compatible to their own national conditions. They are not obligatory to present quantified emissions cut target.
But developed countries should present and meet their quantified target.
Yu criticized Europe for failing to meet its previous commitments of greenhouse-gas emissions cut, technology transfer and offering aid to developing nations.
Vice Minister in Charge of the National Development and Reform Commission Xie Zhenhua, told the press last week, "The target is binding domestically but not internationally."
Under the Bali Road Map, developed countries should offer technological, financial and capacity support to help developing countries adopt mitigation actions.
Chen of the CASS said international inspections should only cover emissions cut achieved with capital assistance of developed nations under the UNFCCC mechanism.
However, she noted that developed nations had so far not compromised much in providing capital and technological support.
Xie, also the top negotiator representing the Chinese government in international climate talks, said China's 2006-2010 mitigation actions of cutting energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent did not receive any financial and technological support from the international community.
However, "at least 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide will have been cut in these five years."
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Representatives of about 190 countries will attend the 15th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC from Dec 7 to 18 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The meeting is expected to renew greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets set by the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, the first stage of which is to expire in 2012.
It is also expected to further outline the post-2012 negotiation path.
However, Yu said that a few programs with possible international support in China would receive international inspections, such as examination by international bodies, third-party inspections or supervision from independent panels.
