China unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions yesterday, a carbon intensity goal that Premier Wen Jiabao will take to a summit in Copenhagen next month hoping to aid a global climate deal.
The announcement came a day after the US, the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China, unveiled a plan to cut emissions by 2020 and said President Barack Obama would attend the UN-led talks in Copenhagen.
China said Mr Wen would go to the December 7-18 talks and pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each yuan of national income 40-45 per cent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.
It was hailed as a vital commitment towards rekindling talks to fix a new framework for tackling global warming, although analysts cautioned it was technically quite modest for China.
"The US commitment to specific, mid-term emission cut targets and China's commitment to specific action on energy efficiency can unlock two of the last doors to a comprehensive agreement," said Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen praised Mr Wen's decision to attend and said China was "very active and constructive".
Even so, China's emissions were still likely to double by 2020 with the new target, said Frank Jotzo, deputy director of the Australian National University Climate Change Institute.
Without a goal "under a business as usual scenario, China's emissions might increase over two and a half times," he said.
"China has taken what is universally expected to happen, and dressed it up as a new and ambitious policy decision," said Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist. The UN talks have run out of time to settle a legally binding deal after arguments between rich and poor nations about who should cut emissions, by how much and who should pay. But hopes are growing that a substantive political pact can be agreed at the December meeting instead.
China's target comes after big emitters Brazil and Indonesia announced tough 2020 reduction targets. Wednesday's 2020 target from the US and Mr Obama's attendance are also expected to help the Copenhagen talks, analysts say.