China's actions

China will build an industrial system and consumption pattern with low carbon emissions, Premier Wen Jiabao said in his government work report delivered March 5 at the opening meeting of the annual session of the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC).

The plan calls for the country to work hard to develop low-carbon technologies as well as new and renewable energy resources to actively respond to climate change, Wen told NPC deputies, adding that the development of smart power grids should be intensified.

Other measures to combat climate change include increasing forest carbon sinks and expanding China's forests by at least 5.92 million hectares in 2010.

Further, he promised that China would participate in international cooperation to address climate change and work for additional progress in the global cause.

Wen also addressed energy conservation, environmental protection and the development of a circular economy.

"We will increase our energy-saving capacity by an equivalent of 80 million tons of standard coal (this year)," he said.

For developing a circular economy, Wen said China would utilize mineral resources, recycle industrial waste, use by-product heat and pressure to generate electricity, and transform household solid waste into resources.

A draft plan for China's national economic and social development submitted to the NPC on March 5 also pledged that the country would formulate and implement policies to meet its action targets for limits on greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and to promote international discussions on countering climate change.

In November, the Chinese government announced a "voluntary action" before the Copenhagen Conference to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent compared with 2005 levels, in order to address global climate change.

On March 1, the National Development and Reform Commission also confirmed that the government would take concrete actions to develop a low-carbon economy.

The country would include the low-carbon targets in the 12th five-year plan for national economic development (2011-2015) to build an energy-saving, ecologically friendly society, the commission said.

It would launch a series of technological and fiscal support policies to promote the use of non-fossil, renewable energies including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and nuclear power, aiming to increase its proportion of primary energy consumption to about 15 percent by 2020 from 9.9 percent at year-end 2009.