China on Tuesday urged industrialized nations to play a greater role in dealing with climate change, saying China's per-capita greenhouse gas emissions were "less than one third of the level of developed nations".

Despite low per-capita emissions, the Chinese government has placed great emphasis on climate change and has employed effective measures to cut emissions and its negative impacts, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu at a regular press conference.

China has made great efforts to promote technology innovation, increase energy efficiency, develop low-carbon energy, improve the energy consumption structure and enhance environmental protection, added Jiang.

The Chinese government has set a goal of reducing energy

consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent by 2010, while pollutant discharge should drop by 10 percent.

As a developing country, China is not obliged to meet targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, under which most industrialized countries are required to reduce their gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below the 1990 levels, during the period from 2008 to 2012.

"Climate changes threaten the whole globe and require the international community to make joint efforts to deal with it," said the spokeswoman.

"The developed nations have both a responsibility and capability to contribute more to climate change," said Jiang.

Jiang also demanded that developed nations take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and provide assistance for the developing countries in terms of technology transfer and capital, while the developing countries follow the path of sustainable development.

How to implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol is crucial for dealing with climate change, Jiang added.

The UN conference on climate change kicked off on Monday, with participating parties exploring an international framework to deal with the issue of global warming after 2012.

"We hope the climate change talks, which based on the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, will achieve 'substaintial progress' before 2009," Jiang said.

Source: Xinhua