The European Union Wednesday praised China's efforts to fight climate change despite having diverging views from Beijing over a post-Koyto Protocol structure.
China is very committed to fighting climate change, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and improving energy efficiency, the chairman of European Parliament's Temporary Committee on Climate Change, Guido Sacconi, said at a news conference in Beijing.
His remarks came on the last day of his three-day visit to China during which he met with senior officials involved in devising policies to fight climate change and enforce them.
China acknowledges the importance of cooperating with industrialized countries on technology and technology transfer, as well as the need for financial assistance in these fields, he said. The EU and China will continue cooperating closely on the issue.
For example, China mapped out its energy conservation plan for the 2006-10 period, aiming to cut the use of non-renewable energy by 20 percent.
A EU-China center for energy technology will help the country reach the goal by raising its energy efficiency and developing clean coal technology, Sacconi said.
But, according to him, one critical issue remains: "China says the current structure of the Kyoto Protocol should be maintained, and developing countries including emerging economies should have no quantitative commitments."
Since China is a developing country, it is not bound by the Kyoto Protocol to set a target for cutting GHG emission.
According to official figures, CO2 emission in China is more than 5 billion tons a year, making it one of the biggest GHG emitters in the world. But its carbon footprint per capita GHG emission a year remains around 4 tons, which is below the world average.
Sacconi's and his delegation's visit to China comes at a critical time because environment ministers of 80 countries are scheduled to meet in Bali, Indonesia, next month to work out a post-Kyoto Protocol environment document.
Source: China Daily
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