Foreign and Military Affairs

EU diplomats hail China's emissions cut target

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-01 23:49

BEIJING: Diplomats from the European Union (EU) member states on Tuesday spoke highly of China's recent promise on its greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

"We welcome that national objective of China," EU ambassador to China Serge Abou said at a press conference in response to related questions.

China, as the biggest developing nation, set a good example for the international efforts in emissions reduction, he noted.

China announced on November 26 that it would reduce the intensity of its carbon dioxide emissions per GDP unit in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent from the 2005 level.

Swedish Ambassador to China Mikael Lindstrom, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told Xinhua that he and his country "have a lot of respect for the series of efforts" that china has made.

"The climate change is really a serious global crisis, we cannot fall into a zero-sum game," he said, noting that "we hope it will be win-win, but if we don't do anything it will be lose-lose".

As the hosting nation of the Copenhagen climate change conference, Denmark's diplomat Soren Jacobsen welcomed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's attendance to the upcoming meeting.

China's announcement of its emissions cut promise "is positive", said Soren Jacobsen, Deputy Head of Mission and Minister Counsellor of the Danish embassy to China.

Jacobsen hoped that an agreement would be reached at Copenhagen.

The diplomats from EU's all member states gathered here at the press conference to mark that the Treaty of Lisbon came into effect on December 1.

As stipulated in the Treaty, the Delegation of the European Commission to China was renamed the Delegation of the European Union to China on Tuesday.