China takes responsible attitude to climate change
Updated: 2008-04-13 22:09
BOAO - China is taking a responsible attitude towards climate change and some measures taken by the country are even more pro-active than some developed countries, Richard Yorke, HSBC China chief executive officer, told Xinhua at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in the country's southern Hainan Province.
The Shanghai-based banker said there was a clear-cut regulation that air-conditioning units in the city should be set no lower than 26 degrees Celsius in summer, adding that China's banking industry watchdog was launching a "green credit" program.
The temperature of all the country's air-conditioned public rooms should be kept at no lower than 26 degrees Celsius in summer and no higher than 20 degrees Celsius in winter, stipulated last summer by the State Council, China's Cabinet, in effort to save energy.
China's top five banks offered a total of 106.3 billion yuan in loans (US$ 15.18 billion) last year to help enterprises cut emissions and save energy, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).
The CBRC also said in February that some 30 energy-intensive, high-polluting enterprises were denied credit from the top five banks last year after being blacklisted by the environmental authorities.
Rob Morrison, Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA) chairman, said China's recent move of promoting the State Environmental Protection Administration to a full ministry known as the Ministry of Environmental Protection, could facilitate environmental protection endeavors.
In recent years, China has enhanced macro-control and stepped up its industrial upgrading in effort to make industrial structures, modes of growth and consumption patterns more conducive to conserving resources and the environment.
Rajendra Pachauri, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairman, said on Sunday it was not easy for China to solve many problems as the country had a 1.3 billion population. The government, however, had endeavored to make the economic development mode shift in the right direction. The Indian economist added he was deeply moved by the Chinese efforts made in this regard.
The country launched a national program in June to address climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an all round way.
Under the National Climate Change Program, the first by a developing country, China pledged to restructure its economy, promoting clean technologies and improving energy efficiency.
China has set goals of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent, and cutting total emissions of major pollutants by 10 percent by 2010.
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