Fighting climate change
A tough job though it is, China is taking climate change seriously. The country has demonstrated its commitment to fighting global warming and establishing itself as an effective player in this area.
The latest evidence is a high-level meeting on climate change that China is co-organizing with the United Nations early next month. The conference will put technology development and transfer high on its agenda.
China's fight on this score ranges from boosting the use of renewable energy to 10 percent by 2010 to improving energy efficiency by 20 percent. It has rolled out a national climate change policy, a sign of its resolve.
But to enable sustainable and climate-resilient development, the world needs a shared vision.
The world should take concrete actions to put the globe on the pathway toward a low-carbon economy.
All members of the global village should play a role in enhancing mitigation of climate change. They should do this in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. The principle should be an important basis for the shared vision.
To involve developing countries in the vision, developed countries need to help them with technical know-how and financial support.
The Bali Action Plan takes note of the importance of technology transfer for effective international action on climate change.
UN officials hailed the role of technologies as crucial for countries, especially developing ones, to commit to environmental targets.
But how?
China called for the establishment of a commission for technology and its transfer.
The Beijing conference in November is expected to deliberate on how to clear the way to technology development and transfer. Shall it work out an enhanced technology transfer framework? The key part of it is enhanced capacity-building.
It could be a good groundwork for the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, in December.
It is important to enhance knowledge-sharing. Lack of human and institutional capacity, including the capacity to absorb new technologies, is one of the key barriers for developing countries to better adopting, operating, maintaining and disseminating environmentally sound technologies.
(China Daily 10/07/2008 page8)
