Copenhagen Climate Conference - China/EU

Wen promises high output, low input

Article published on the 2009-11-30 Latest update 2009-11-30 14:48 TU

Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (R) and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C) at the EU-China political summit
(Photo: Reuters)

China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao promised to etablish a "sustainable system of national economy" at a meeting with European Union (EU) chiefs in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Monday. He was responding to European pressure to take the lead in cutting greenhouse gases ahead of the forthcoming Copenhagen climate summit.

"We need to put in place a sustainable system of national economy that generates high output with low input, low consumption and low emissions," Wen said.

"We need to transform the existing patterns of development and consumption and move the world to a development path characterised by high productivity, prosperous lives and sound ecology to create a better home for the human race,"

The Chinese PM will represent his country, which is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, at Copenhagen.

Beijing has called on long-industrialised countries to take a greater share of the burden of cutting gas emissions, allowing poorer countries to raise their standards of living.

But last week it announced its first-ever limits on carbon emissions and Wen, who opened his speech by quoting the world conservation strategy, seemed to indicate that more will be offered in the Danish capital.

China is pursuing massive reforestation projects, he said, as well as making coal-fired power stations cleaner and increasing nuclear and hydro-electric power capacity.

But he added that EU countries must relax restrictions on the transfer of clean energy technology, which companies claim are needed to protect their intellectural property rights.

Earlier, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called on China to take on "leadership and responsibility", adding "more needs to be done". Sweden currently holds the EU presidency.

But reports claim that the EU is trying to dodge a commitment to provide extra funding to help poor countries adapt to global warming.

According to Britain's Guardian newspaper, leaked documents show that the EU has deleted lines from the negotiating text which specify that such aid must come on top of existing development aid.