Ride the innovation wagon to a green future

China will take measures to fulfill the greenhouse gas-reducing pledge it has made to the United Nations regardless of the outcome of the Paris climate change conference. But it hopes "a powerful, ambitious and legally binding deal" is reached in Paris.

China's goals in its action plan, called the "Intended Nationally Determined Contribution", require it to cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent from the 2005 level by 2030. It will also need to increase non-fossil energy in its primary energy consumption to about 20 percent and peak its carbon emissions by 2030.

These pledges are part of the China-US joint statement on climate change during the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in Beijing.