China will not accept a cap on its carbon emissions at upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen, Chinese officials said. After several days of U.S.-China climate meetings in Beijing, Chinese officials said that placing a ceiling on its greenhouse gas emissions would stunt its economic growth. “China is still a developing country and the present task confronting China is to develop its economy and alleviate poverty,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said. “Given that, it is natural for China to have some increase in its emissions, so it is not possible for China… to accept a binding, compulsory target.” U.S. officials had said they would press China to accept some limits on its CO2 emissions, but the China Daily newspaper reported that Todd Stern, the chief U.S. climate negotiator, had backed off from that stance. “We don’t expect China to take a national cap at this stage,” Stern reportedly said. China said it would play a constructive role in Beijing and would set domestic energy savings targets and accelerate growth in its renewable energy sector. The success of the December climate talks in Copenhagen depends in large part on the ability of the U.S. and China to find agreement on a global plan to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
China Will Not Accept Binding CO2 Targets at Copenhagen
More From E360
-
Solutions
In Seawater, Researchers See an Untapped Bounty of Critical Metals
-
INTERVIEW
Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger
-
Solutions
In a Dammed and Diked Mekong, a Push to Restore the Flow
-
INTERVIEW
How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks
-
ANALYSIS
Will New Leader End Progress in Saving Indonesia’s Forests?
-
Oceans
Dire Straits: Can a Fishing Ban Save the Elusive European Eel?
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining