China will unveil its first national plan to tackle climate change days before the G8 meeting in Germany, according to a report by Reuters.
Having received international criticism for not doing enough to cut greenhouse gas emissions, China will publish details of its plan to combat global warming on 4th June – two days before its President Hu Jintao joins other G8 leaders at a meeting that’s expected to have climate change high on the agenda.
China is set to overtake the US this year as the world’s leading emitter of CO2, but Chinese officials yesterday defended the country’s record on greenhouse gas emissions and unequivocally rejected compulsory caps on output.
“A mandatory quota for China now would not be fair and therefore China cannot accept that,” said one Chinese official.
Although officials released no clear details of the plan, China has already set itself a target of cutting 2005 levels of CO2 by 20% by 2010, as well as aiming to increase the proportion of energy produced from renewable sources to 10% of the total by 2010.
But with the G8 meeting only days away, and the world’s leading polluter refusing to back down on mandatory targets for greenhouse gas reductions, hopes of an accord at this stage seem unlikely.
Of course, we in the West can easily influence China’s output of carbon - by boycotting cheap Chinese exports.
Put simply, we are the cause of China’s huge growth in carbon outputs. It is the developed world’s greedy demand for cheap, disposable products that keeps China’s factories humming and pouring out pollution.
All we have to do to help China meet its targets is stop buying the cheap clothing, cheap plasticwares, cheap everything - and we don’t need it all anyway!
If we criticise China on its increase in CO2 emissions while continuing to buy Chinese goods by the shipping container load, we are nothing more than hypocrites of the worst sort.
Comment by Daharja — June 1, 2007 @ 12:28 am