China to Promise Cuts in Greenhouse Gases

The Chinese government is preparing to adopt its first programme to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming. Although some reports suggest the plan will not include quantitative reduction targets, a senior official said on Tuesday that the country would seek to reduce carbon dioxide emissions "by 10% over the next five years".

Several recent government reports, however, have underlined China's poor performance in meeting its own environmental targets.

The government's climate plan, expected to seek final state approval by the end of February, will set out its intentions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop green technologies. Lu Xuedu, deputy director of the Office of Global Environment Affairs at the Chinese ministry of science, told SciDev.Net that setting quantitative emissions reduction targets was "hard and unrealistic".

Yet Zhang Guobao, vice-chairman of the energy-policy-setting National Development and Reform Commission, told an energy conference in Australia on 13 February that over the next five years, "assuming an average economic growth of 7.5% per year, China's carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 10%." Zhang did not specify whether the 10% goal would be per unit of national economic output or an absolute reduction compared to current emissions.