Change in Energy Mix Encouraging

China is sending "encouraging" messages on climate change issues, and the country has "a huge amount" to teach the world in this area, said Andrew Steer, president and chief executive officer of the World Resources Institute.

Commenting on China's decision to push forward the liberalization of water, petroleum, natural gas and electricity prices after the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the head of the renowned environmental think tank and former special envoy for climate change issues at the World Bank said that he believes it's a good move.

"It's a good thing because it will promote better efficiency in the use of resources. That's good for the economy, and generally good for the environment too," Steer said.

But he added that market forces alone will not solve the problem.

"When you move to a market economy, you can't assume that market prices will necessarily point to the right direction for the environment because environmental issues are outside the market," he added.

"So you must put other mechanisms in place. For example, regulation, or pollution taxes that add to the costs of polluters, or subsidize energy from sources that don't cause pollution."