Roundup: World lauds China's sustainability endeavor, climate contribution

China's pledges to sustainable development and its efforts to curb climate change have put it into a leading role in world endeavors in these fields, said officials and experts.

China has planned to start its national emission trading system in 2017, according to a China-U.S. joint presidential statement on climate change during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States at the end of last month.

The system is to cover key industry sectors such as iron and steel, power generation, chemicals, building materials, paper-making, and nonferrous metals.

China also pledged a 20-billion-yuan (3-billion-U.S. dollar) fund to help other developing countries combat climate change.

"China is at the very heart of the solution" for climate change, which has shaped and is continuing shaping the world, said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Group's vice president and special envoy for climate change, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"The tradition of harmonious development, understanding that natural resources must be stewarded and harvested effectively for development have been in the heart of the last few five-year plans in China," said Kyte.

Kyte noted "extraordinary progress" in China over this period of time. "Now we have seen the possibilities for the global economies when China moves first," she said.

"So it is impossible to imagine the realization of the sustainable development goals or impossible to imagine that we have success in stopping climate change without China in the lead," she said.

The China-U.S. joint presidential statement has built on the momentum gained upon their agreements during President Barack Obama's visit to Beijing last November, when the two countries stunned the world with bold climate pledges.

China first announced an emission peak by around 2030, while a U.S. emissions cut of 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 was unveiled during the Obama visit.

The fact that China now has a target of peaking emissions by 2030 and making further cuts in emissions intensity represents a major step forward in terms of a global approach to emissions cuts, said Dave Reay, a professor at University of Edinburgh.

Substantial financial commitments by the United States and China will encourage other developed nations to make comparable commitments, said Reay.

It is important that the richer nations support poorer countries with their plans to make the transition to low-carbon economic growth and development, said Nicholas Stern, chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

"China has shown great leadership with its new pledge of financial support for the poorer countries," he said.

Stern said it is important that China also promotes investments by developing and emerging market economies in low-carbon infrastructure, including through national and multilateral development banks.

Noting the development of new technologies will be very important in combat against climate change, Stern expressed the hope that China and the United States could collaborate strongly in this regard. Endi