Cutting energy use, but behind target

A man rides while delivering bricks of coal on his tricycle in Beijing

China said yesterday it expects to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by five percent this year but meeting a pledge to cut consumption by 20 percent by 2010 would be difficult.
Xie Zhenhua, China’s chief negotiator in climate change talks, told a news conference Beijing was trying to fight global warming, but did not propose any new specific emissions targets ahead of world talks today in Bangkok.
“The international community is very concerned about what China will do in the future, so we will put addressing climate change in our economic and social development plan [...] continuing to make contributions to address climate change,” Xie told reporters in Beijing.
Energy consumption per unit of GDP was down 3.35 percent from 2005 benchmark levels in the first half of 2009 and the emissions of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide were down 5.4 percent and 2.46 percent respectively, Xie said.
Xie said that, based on this 3.35 percent decline, China expected to record a five percent cut in energy consumption per unit of GDP for the full year.
He added, however, that the goal of cutting consumption by 20 percent next year faced “many challenges” and would be difficult to achieve.
China, which according to several groups of scientists is the world’s worst emitter of greenhouse gases, relies on coal for nearly 70 percent of its energy needs.
In a speech at the United Nations last week, President Hu Jintao pledged to reduce the carbon intensity of China’s economy by a “notable margin” by 2020 from their 2005 levels, but did not provide a figure.
The Bangkok meeting is the penultimate preparatory session before the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December at which the global deal is due to be concluded.
The European Union on Friday urged China and India to turn public pronouncements on limiting greenhouse gases into concrete action.
However, on the same day, Zhang Guobao, the head of China’s National Energy Administration, said China would continue to rely on heavily polluting coal for most of its energy needs “for a long time.”
Earlier this month India said it was ready to set itself non-binding targets for cutting carbon emissions in a bid to shed its image as an intransigent polluter.
The leaders of the G8 – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – agreed in July that target cuts for carbon emissions would be set to limit global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels.