In what is hailed by several stakeholders as a landmark shift in policy, Chinese legislators have approved a formal resolution on climate change that will accelerate the world’s most populous country’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, Chinese leaders are now required to draft laws and regulations to provide the legal foundations for its fast-emerging climate change strategy, which requires boosting energy efficiency and renewable energy, and enacting policies to control GHG emissions.
Pu Haiqing, a deputy director of the parliament’s environment and resource protection committee, said that the resolution had been proposed by parliamentary deputies. “Fighting climate change has become an urgent task, with the country facing an increased frequency of extreme weather and climate disasters.”
Wu Changhua, The Climate Group’s Greater China director, believes this shift in climate change policy represents real change. “Taking mitigation and adaptation actions are now viewed as a necessity for China’s own development, not out of consideration for international climate negotiations.” (Source: Business Green, August 31, 2009).
Contact: Ministry of Environmental Protection, The People’s Republic of China, english.sepa.gov.cn; Tom Howard-Vyse, Press Contact, The Climate Group, +44 (0) 207 960-2991, [email protected], www.theclimategroup.org.