China issues report addressing climate change

BEIJING - China on Wednesday published a report detailing policies and efforts that have been made over the past year in facing up to the challenges of global climate change.

The report, titled China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change (2012), was released before the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held from Nov 26 to Dec 7 in Doha, Qatar.

The report outlines actions taken by the Chinese government to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It also documents measures to promote the building of low-carbon communities and advance international negotiation and cooperation.

During the 2006-2010 period, the aggregate energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 19.1 percent from that of 2005, which is equivalent to a reduction of 1.46 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This means China has accomplished its energy conservation goals listed in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), said the report.

By 2015, the nation aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16 percent, cut CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 17 percent, and raise the proportion of non-fossil fuels in the overall primary energy mix to 11.4 percent, said the report.

In 2011, natural disasters caused by extreme weather and climate events affected 430 million people in the country and caused economic losses of 309.6 billion yuan ($49.6 billion).

The upcoming Doha Climate Change Conference is of great significance for maintaining the basic legal framework of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, the report said.

The most important outcome of the conference should be making definite arrangements for the implementation and enforcement of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. It should also ensure that the second commitment period is implemented on January 1, 2013, it said.

The report said China sticks to "the common but differentiated responsibilities" theory in international climate talks. The country's per capita and historical emissions of greenhouse gases are far below those of developed nations.

However, rapid economic development and its population base has made China a big producer of greenhouse gases.