Committed to curbing global warming, China will not follow the old energy-intensive economic development model of developed nations, a Chinese energy expert said.

"Bearing in mind the long-term interests of both the Chinese nation and the whole human race, China will not copy the developed countries' old way of energy-intensive economic development," Liu Yanhua, a senior advisor to the Chinese delegation, told reporters during the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference in the Mexican resort of Cancun.

Instead, China will create a model of conserving energy and enhancing efficiency, Liu said. China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) sets a goal to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by about 20 percent.

In order to realize that goal, China's central and local governments have enhanced efforts in energy conservation and are making use of this opportunity to promote scientific development, he said.

"In recent years, the Chinese government's investment in fighting climate change has increased by a substantial margin with a rate of 20 percent to 30 percent," the expert said. However, several obstacles remain, Liu said, citing the fact that China's energy consumption still depends heavily on coal and has just started to develop green and low-carbon energy as an example.

(China Daily December 6, 2010)