Hopenhagen: World gathers to 'safeguard humanity'

• Source: Global Times
• [03:10 December 08 2009]
• Comments

That's barely a start on what expert studies by the World Bank and others project: that hundreds of billions of dollars a year, in public and private money, will be needed to build seawalls, water systems, wind farms and other projects in a new, warmer world.

Zou Ji, deputy dean of the School of Environment and Natural Resources at the Ren-min University of China, said China will have to pay $78 billion per year in order to achieve the goal of reducing carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

"A low-carbon economy is no free lunch," Zou said, adding that the pledge requires more than 60 technologies, of which, 42 core technologies have to be imported, based on research he led.

Su Wei, deputy chief of the Chinese delegation to the conference, told the Global Times Sunday that China hopes Obama won't come to the conference empty-handed, but bring something concrete and positive, either in terms of an American emission-reduction target or the provision of fi-nance and technology transfer.

Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, said the meeting will be very noisy and chaotic, as delegates make clear and justified their positions during the first few days of negotiations.

"A pact satisfactory to most nations is not likely, as nations seem to remain far apart, but the bargaining must not collapse," Lin said.

Jiang Kejun argued that China's determination to cut emissions would not depend on the outcome of the summit.

"The nation will prepare itself for a new round of global competition with a low-carbon economy. Greenhouse-gas-emission reduction has already been embedded in the national development strategy of China."

Qiu Wei contributed to this story