China Talking Big On Climate Change

The government of China announced a new policy change on emissions at Friday's State Council meeting on climate change that will include putting in place carbon dioxide emissions targets for its economic and social development programs.  Indications are that China may include new national goals for carbon dioxide emissions in their next five year national development plan(2011-2015).

Some of the highlights of the announced policy:

China vowed to help the international community achieve "positive results" at the UN Copenhagen climate change talks in December.

The State Council promised to name and shame provincial governments that fail to meet their 2008 targets of energy conservation and emission control.

The government will subsidize 120 million electricity-saving lightbulbs nationwide.
 
This policy statement comes amid climate change discussions going on in Bonn ahead of December’s United Nations-sponsored talks in Copenhagen, which will try to determine a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.  Because the United States and China are responsible for 40 percent of global carbon emissions any global agreement on emissions standards must include China.  Although this is a positive step in that direction, according to Elizabeth Economy, Director for Asian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon, and "without a dramatic reshaping of its economy, its emissions will be twice those of the United States by 2030."