China's emissions cut "voluntary actions," int'l inspections unnecessary, experts say
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Climate experts said Tuesday it was "unnecessary" for China to receive international inspections on its greenhouse gas emissions cut as the target setting was a "voluntary action" taken by the Chinese government "based on its own national conditions."
Instead, China would try to achieve its emissions cut target via domestic measurement, supervision, assessment and accountability mechanism, they said.
The State Council, or the Chinese cabinet, announced last week that China was going to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent compared with the level of 2005.
Chen Ying, a senior research fellow of the Research Center for Sustainable Development under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said it was "obviously unreasonable" for China to be subject to international supervision as the target was decided by the Chinese government itself, and it was not an internationally sanctioned binding promise.
According to experts, international inspections only apply to developed countries, which, under the Kyoto Protocol signed by most nations in 1997, should carry out quantified emissions cut promises and follow the principle of actions being "measurable, reportable and verifiable."
China had no intention of receiving international inspections on carrying out the target as the country would "mainly use its own resources to achieve it," said Yu Qingtai, special representative of the Foreign Ministry for the UN climate change talks.
Yu said the country had no plan to seek international financial support to help it trim emissions.
The obligations for developing countries, under the Bali Road Map, agreed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties in 2007, are to take "mitigation" actions compatible to their own national conditions. They are not obligatory to present quantified emissions cut target.
But developed countries should present and meet their quantified target.
Yu criticized Europe for failing to meet its previous commitments of greenhouse-gas emissions cut, technology transfer and offering aid to developing nations.
Vice Minister in Charge of the National Development and Reform Commission Xie Zhenhua, told the press last week, "The target is binding domestically but not internationally."
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