Developed countries should share their 'green' technology, says Premier

Beijing - Premier Wen Jiabao has urged the leadership of all countries to deepen their political will in tackling climate change woes as uncertainties mount in the months before the United Nation's conference in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of this year.

Premier Wen Jiabao meets delegates to the high-level climate change forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. [Ren Haixia/China News Service]

"At present, we still need to build up political will, boost consensus and strengthen coordination among the different players to reach a legally binding document in Cancun," Wen said.

Based on the achievements made at the Copenhagen Summit last December, Wen urged the rich countries to further clarify their compulsory carbon reduction targets. "At the same time, we developing countries should make clear our voluntary goal of slowing down climate change," Wen said.

Wen also urged the developed countries to transfer climate change-friendly technologies to the developing countries, especially the poorest countries and island nations.

During the meeting, Wen said China will redouble its efforts in reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency during the coming years after it finishes its 2006-2010 goal of cutting energy consumption per unit of economic output by 20 percent.

While praising China for its green efforts, former Australian Prime Minister Robert J. Lee Hawke asked China to share its experiences and lessons on energy savings and pollution reduction to the rest of the world to tackle global environmental woes and climate change.

Wen responded: "China, together with the rest of the world, is willing to make its due contribution in coping with global warming and climate change."

At a banquet for the foreign guests on Friday night, former vice-premier Zeng Peiyan said mounting uncertainties are ahead for the climate change negotiations. The world needs more dialogue and cooperation, Zeng said.

"Climate change woes are our shared challenges but the root lies in the historical emissions by the developed countries," said Zeng, as president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, which organized the weekend climate change summit.

Zeng expected the forum to work as a platform for different countries to communicate their positions freely before the Bonn climate change negotiation in June and the Cancun conference at the end of this year.

"To achieve concrete progress at the end of this year, we need to remove the uncertainties ahead," Zeng said. Zeng listed the uncertainties as the rich countries' unclear will to increase their carbon cuts and to increase aid in capital and technologies for the developing countries.

"I hope the governments of the developed countries can reconsider their policies and subsidize the export and transfer of climate-friendly technologies to the poor and developing countries," said Zeng. "This is the right way to address our common woes."

China Daily