From Reuters:
China and other rising economies must shoulder growing obligations to cut greenhouse gases as they climb the development ladder, said a prominent Chinese adviser who has broken ranks with his government on global warming.
Hu Angang, a public policy professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, is the most influential Chinese expert to criticize his government’s stance that the fast-growing country should not assume international obligations to curb carbon dioxide and other pollutants stoking global warming.
In recent papers and now in an interview with Reuters, Hu said global climate talks culminating in Copenhagen late next year could be a final opportunity for the planet to avoid calamitous damage from more extreme storms, droughts and floods.
The fully translated discussion by Professor Hu Angang and Professor Quan Qingyou can be found at China Dialogue (full article):
China should put itself at the forefront of global emissions reductions and use the global pressure to develop a low-carbon economy. This would require it to restructure its industry, promote high-technology, high-added-value manufacturing, increase the role of the service industry and reduce overall carbon use.
The issue for China is no longer whether or not to participate in international climate-change negotiations, but how to make its voice heard and to become one of the leaders in the process.
