China has no other choice than to pursue sustainable development

China is making huge efforts to combat climate change despite the fact that it remains a low-income developing country, writes Zhenhua Xie, the country's special representative on climate change

Zhenhua Xie
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 May 2009 15.00 BST

China attaches great importance to tackling climate change. In 2007, it established the national leading group on climate change (NLGCC), headed by Premier Wen Jiabao.
That same year, China issued its national climate change programme, the first ever by a developing country, which set an objective to lower its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20% by 2010 against 2005 levels.
In its mid- and long-term plan for the development of renewable energy, China also set an objective of increasing the proportion of renewables in the primary energy mix to 10% by 2010, and to 15% by 2020.
To achieve such objectives, China has adopted a series of effective policies and measures, achieving remarkable progress. First, China succeeded in lowering its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 1.79%, 4.04% and 4.59% respectively for 2006, 2007, and 2008, which strongly suggests it will meet the 20% objective by 2010.
Second, between 2006 and 2008, China shut down small thermal power generation units with a total installed capacity of 34.21GW, phased out 60.59m tonnes of backward steel-making capacity, 43.47m tonnes of iron-smelting capacity and 140m tonnes of cement-production capacity. All of these steps reduced pollution markedly.
Third, between 2000 and 2008, China increased its wind power generating capacity from 340MW to 10GW, hydropower from 79.35GW to 163GW, and nuclear power from 2.1GW to 9.1GW. It has also made great efforts to reduce agricultural and rural greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, by the end of 2007, more than 26.5m rural households were using household biogas digesters, cutting 44m tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Fourthly, China has increased its carbon sinks by promoting reforestation. China's forest coverage rate increased from 12% in the early 1980s to 18.21% today.
For this year, China will complete formulating provincial climate change programmes throughout the country, and promote effective implementation of the national scheme.
In China's economy stimulus package, 210bn yuan (£19bn) is allocated for energy conservation, pollutants reduction, and ecosystem protection projects, 370bn yuan for economic structural adjustment and technology renovation, and 400bn yuan for new energy-efficient housing that will use environmentally friendly materials. Some 370bn yuan will be used to improve rural living standards in an environmentally sound and sustainable way.
China is making huge efforts to combat climate change despite the fact that it remains a low-income developing country with a per-capita GDP of around $3,000 (£1,876). By United Nations standards, China still has 150 million people living in poverty. China has no other choice but to pursue sustainable development in order to meet the basic needs of its people and to eradicate poverty. In this process, the world is assured that China will make every effort to address climate change.
The international community has great expectations for reaching a positive outcome in Copenhagen. In China's view, the key to the success in Copenhagen lies in the realisation of the full, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and its Kyoto protocol. Developed country parties to the protocol, collectively, must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25-40% below their 1990 level by 2020.
Non-protocol developed countries should undertake comparable commitments with quantified emission reduction targets. Developed countries should also fulfill their obligations under the Convention to provide financial support and technology transfer to enable developing countries to effectively tackle climate change.
In addition, appropriate mechanisms and institutional arrangements should be established for adaptation, financial support and technology transfer. Developing countries will, in the context of sustainable development and with measurable, reportable, and verifiable support in terms of financing, technology, and capacity-building, take nationally appropriate mitigation actions.
The global financial crisis has undoubtedly exacerbated the challenge of climate change. But since climate change is a more far-reaching and serious challenge, the world must not waver in its determination and commitment to addressing it. Indeed, the international financial crisis, if handled properly, may also be turned into an opportunity to reach a win-win solution for both climate protection and economic development.
With a deep sense of responsibility for its own people and the entire human race, China will continue to implement proactive policies and measures to address climate change and make unremitting efforts to protectEarth.
• Xie Zhenhua is President Hu Jintao's special representative on climate change and the vice-chairman of the national development and reform commission of China