Reuters reports on an “exclusive” tip from a senior climate policy expert”Zou Ji at People’s University“that China is likely to release a plan to combat climate change this year, which is expected to set goals for carbon emissions and lay out strategies for dealing with changing weather patterns. Via Khaleej Times Online:
The plan showed that China was joining deepening global alarm that greenhouse gases from factories, power plants and vehicles are lifting average temperatures and will seriously, perhaps calamitously, alter the world’s climate, said Zou.
“All this shows that the Chinese government is paying more and more attention to this issue,” he said. “When it’s approved and issued it will be China’s first official, comprehensive document on climate change.” [Full Text]
According to the article, climate experts are preparing to make a presentation to Chinese leaders”apparently the first time top brass have devoted a study session to global warming.
Zou also told Reuters the government’s relative silence on the UN’s sobering new climate change report (see CDT’s coverage of the UN report’s failure to make it into mainstream Chinese media) is misleading. Behind the scenes, he says, leaders in Beijing are well aware of the warnings.
Meanwhile, China is reported to be among three countries (along with the US and India) that failed to join the international chorus calling over the weekend for the creation of a new global organization dedicated to slowing climate change.
