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Share green roles fairly

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-22 08:07

Much has been talked about the need to take action on climate change. Indeed, the globe cannot afford waiting any longer as greenhouse gas emissions are rising more rapidly than most climate scientists had expected.

However, no solution to fight global warming will be genuine enough, and thus practical enough, if developed countries keep glossing over their historical responsibility on this issue.

Speaking after a China-European Union summit in Prague, Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president seized on Washington's latest effort to raise fuel efficiency standards and reduce carbon emissions to nudge China to "engage fully" on the subject.

This is the latest instance of the advanced countries still pressing develo-ping countries to shoulder equal responsibility without recognizing the historical fact that the great bulk of global warming that has already happened is due not to China but to the past carbon emissions of today's wealthy nations.

The recent u-turn in US policy on global warming might really be something that the international community can take comfort from. After all, such a departure from the US government's previous indifference can give considerable boost to international efforts to thrash out a global climate change deal in the lead-up to the Copenhagen conference in December.

With the Kyoto Protocol due to expire in 2012, a new action agenda, as ambitious and achievable as possible, is badly needed now to confront climate change for the shared interests of mankind.

But reading too much into a belated step that advanced countries like the United States should have taken long before now will not change the fact that, under the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, the developed world has yet to do its due part in tackling climate change.

Worse, making use of such initiatives to demand more concessions from developing countries will disunite rather than unite rich and poor countries around the challenge that none of us can address alone.

As a major developing economy, China is keenly aware of the necessity to combat climate change in spite of the global financial crisis. In 2007, the Chinese government issued the National Climate Change Program, the first of its kind issued by a developing country, which proposed the strategies and measures needed to tackle climate change.

With its current average per capita greenhouse gas emission volume being only a third of that in developed countries, China is certainly justified in having fair and reasonable expectations from the international community.

The sheer size of the Chinese economy means China's green efforts with proper financial and technological assistance from developed countries will contribute tremendously to fighting global warming.

China's success, in turn, will set a good example for other developing countries that they do not have to sacrifice their development rights to save the planet.

A global united front is a must to rein in climate change. To build such a front, rich countries must demonstrate more sincerity and determination in assuming their own green roles instead of pointing the finger at others.

(China Daily 05/22/2009 page8)