(As delivered on conference)

20 October 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen,

      I am very pleased to have this opportunity to discuss with you China's position on the issue of climate change. I will make a brief summery of my thesis, where you may find more specific data in the electronic version.

Today, I'd like to explain WHY climate change is an important challenge to China, WHAT China has done to deal with it, and HOW China perceives international cooperation on climate change, particularly cooperation with the European Union.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Climate change poses enormous challenges to China. Due to three factors, these challenges are more daunting for China than for any other countries.

The first factor is population. Our 1.3 billion people accounts for one fifth of the world population. There are still 50 million living in poverty or with low income. Our per capita GDP still ranks below 100th on world list. Our people aspire for a higher standard of living, and they have every right to live a better life and demand the government to continue promoting development. In this context, emissions related to subsistence and development will be hardly avoidable.

The second factor is resources. China does not have bounty energy resources. Coal still accounts for 70% of our energy consumption and 80% of greenhouse gas emission. It is not possible to change this pattern in short time. And with unceasing urbanization and industrialization, energy demand in China will continue to grow. Moreover, our efforts to develop new energy and cut emission are hampered by an overall low level of technical, research and innovation capability.

The third factor is the environment. China is vulnerable to the adverse impact of climate change. In recent years, China was more frequently stricken by extreme climatic events, which led to soil erosion, desertification and depletion of water supply. The coastal areas were attacked by more typhoons, which caused unprecedented damages. Climate change poses real and increasing threat to China's natural ecosystems and its economic and social development.

Besides these factors, there are more challenges to enumerate. Therefore, to comprehend China's position on climate change, one has to take into account China's natural endowment, national condition and stage of development, and that while China needs to fight climate change, she also needs to achieve further development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Although climate change, or more specifically global warming, is primarily caused by human activities since industrial revolution in the western world, although China has very low historical emission and its per capita emission today is well below the world average, although China is still in a stage of development that is featured by accelerating industrialization, China has all along adopted a highly responsible attitude on this important issue. We have made vigorous efforts to combat climate change and achieved commendable results. Because what we pursue is sustainable development in our country and common development with the rest of the world. Because we understand that climate change bears on the survival and the well-beings of not only the Chinese nation, but also the entire humanity.

What has China done?

First, we speed up the transformation of our development model and economic structure. The government has adopted policies and taken measures to accelerate industrial restructuring, including cutting down excess capacity and phasing out backward capacity. We encourage technological upgrading towards lower emission and higher efficiency. We promote innovation and increase R&D investment in new energy and environmental technologies. All in all, we strive to build a resource-saving, environment-friendly and innovation-oriented economy. We will not take the old path of the industrial countries, which was "pollution first, treatment afterwards". 

Secondly, we strengthened government leadership and strategic planning. The National Leading Group on Climate Change is headed by Premier of the State Council. The working mechanism is structured as leadership by central government, mandates from departments in charge, and participation of regional authorities and enterprises. We have set out many mandatory national targets, including those on energy intensity, discharge of major pollutants, forest coverage and renewable energy. By reducing energy intensity alone, China will save 620 million tons of standard coal between 2005 and 2010, equivalent to cutting 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions. There are also widespread publicity and education campaigns to enhance people's environmental awareness.

Thirdly, we constantly identify our policy objectives on tackling climate change. One best example would be the elaboration by President Hu Jintao during the recent United Nations climate change summit. He says that China will further integrate climate change into national economic and social development plan, step up effort to develop green, low-carbon and recycling economy. China will endeavor to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by a notable margin, increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 15%, and increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares. All these prove that our attitude is sincere, our goals are clear, our plan is feasible and our measures are substantive.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Climate change also poses pressing challenges to the international community, and no country can stay aloof. To deal with it, we need concerted effort, collective response and stronger cooperation. The most urgent task at this moment is to ensure the success of the Copenhagen Conference.

China has taken an active part and played a constructive role in relevant negotiations. We hope that the parties concerned will narrow their differences and reach wider agreement, so that the Conference will produce substantial results and provide impetus to international cooperation. With less than two months ahead, all parties should have a stronger sense of urgency and responsibility. Besides focusing on current negotiations, the parties should also look at the wider picture of international cooperation, where I believe more attention needs to be given to the following three aspects.

First, the combination of mitigation and adaptation. In this regard, the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" is of vital importance. Developed countries should fulfill their task of emission reduction set in the Kyoto Protocol and continue to undertake substantial mid-term quantified reduction targets. Developing countries should do their best to cut down emissions in light of their national conditions. At the same time, the international community should support the developing countries to take adaptation measures and integrate their response to climate change with capacity building. We should not require developing countries to undertake reduction commitment beyond their level of development and capability.

Second, the provision of financial assistance and support. The developed countries should take the responsibility to provide new, additional and predictable financial support to developing countries, with a certain proportion of its GDP. Financial resources from private sectors and the carbon market could be supplementary. The governance of these Funds should be fair, transparent and efficient. The Funds should be managed with easy accessibility and at low administrative cost.

Third, the facilitation of technology transfer and cooperation. To do that, we could not simply rely on market force. We should support the establishment of an international mechanism, involving both governments and enterprises and operating on market principles. Developed countries should fulfill their commitments to the developing countries and eliminate all barriers on technology transfer.

Ladies and gentlemen,

China and the EU have long-standing cooperation on climate change. In 2005, the two sides established partnership on climate change and developed a rolling work plan. It became an important component of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. In this realm, we are actually complementary to each other, as the EU has advanced technologies and China has a vast market. We have good cooperation in air pollution control, water conservation and other traditional areas, but there are many new areas where we could have further cooperation. For the next stage, I propose we focus on the following areas.

The first one is energy conservation and efficiency. In this area, China is still far behind the EU and other developed countries, but there's great potential for technological upgrading, which will facilitate China's effort to reduce CO2 emission per GDP unit.

The second is renewable energy. The China-EU Clean Development Mechanism and other projects enable China to promote the development of renewable energy, improve energy structure and enhance environmental awareness.

The third is clean coal and coal-bed methane technology. As I mentioned above, for quite a long time in future, China's energy production and consumption will be mainly based on coal. But it provides us a broad platform for coal-related technical cooperation.

Last but not least is carbon capture and storage. In fact, it has become a new highlight of our cooperation. CCS is an effective solution but is also quite costly and technically demanding. Large-scale application requires extensive international cooperation. The China-EU Joint Declaration on Climate Change states that China and the EU will work for the development and demonstration of CCS technology in order to achieve near-zero emissions of greenhouse gases in the process of coal consumption. In 2005 and 2006, China signed MOUs on CCS cooperation with the United Kingdom and with the EU. Last June, the European Commission issued the policy paper which called for stronger China-EU cooperation on CCS. The EU proposed to develop commercial CCS demonstration projects in China, including a 400-megawatt coal-fired power plant, with a funding budget of 50 million euros. We welcome this initiative. Relevant authorities will carry on consultations on organizational issues, funding arrangements and institutional guarantees. We hope they will reach agreement at an early date.

Finally, I thank the ZEP for inviting me here and appreciate your effort in promoting CCS cooperation between China and the EU. And I wish to express my confidence in China-EU cooperation on climate change, as I have witnessed strong promotion by the governments and active participation by enterprises, research communities, market intermediaries and other stakeholders. On the Chinese side, we are always ready to have closer cooperation with the EU in tackling climate change and promoting sustainable development.

Thank you.