China postpones climate report

[The Times, Xinhua, Reuters, AFP, 24 April] China has postponed the release of its National Plan on Climate Change, amidst reports that the document for the first time discloses internal targets for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. According to one of the report's authors, Xu Huaqing, the document aims to discuss how China should deal with greenhouse gases over the next five years. Press reports on the National Plan suggest that, while recognising that the country faces an average temperature increase of 1.2-2.1 degrees C and associated environmental and economic impacts, it is ready to take only limited action to curb its emissions. The main proposal, to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 40% over the period 2000 to 2020, would be more than offset by China's plans to quadruple its GDP over the same period. China currently relies on coal for 70% of its energy needs, and, according to the International Energy Agency, is poised to overtake the USA as the world's largest emitter of CO2 either this year or next. China's 9 nuclear power plants, which do not emit any CO2, generated 5.8 billion kWh of electricity in 2006, less than 2% of the country's electricity. China plans to increase its nuclear capacity to 4% by 2020.