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Climate change, financial regulation to top G20 agenda: expert

By Song Jingli (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-23 10:38

Two very big issues at the upcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania scheduled from Sept 24-25 will be climate change and financial regulations, said an expert in an interview with chinadaily.com.cn last week.

Martin Walker, senior director of Global Business Council at A.T. Kearney Inc , a global management consultant firm, said there would be hot discussions on climate change at the Pittsburgh summit. But he didn't expect a complete solution in Copenhagen in December, "because I do not think the US Senate will have passed the climate change bill by then."

In the fight against climate change, " China will be part of the solution, not the problem," Walker noted.

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Walker expects world leaders will discuss forming an international financial system to prevent banks from taking crazy risks in the future, in addition to discussing climate change.

 

The bank system is "still sick", according to Walker. "If we say some banks are too big to fail, those banks are even bigger now and the IFM says we still have $4 trillion to write off, almost the size of China's economy."

As for China's voting rights in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Walker said:  "It won't be that hot, in a sense it has already been discussed in April at the last G20 summit." Seven percent of the total voting rights will be proper for China, whose GDP makes up about seven percent of the world GDP, he added. 

Europe views itself as the world leader and wants to limit climate change to 2 C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. It has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and to raise this to 30 percent if there is agreement at Copenhagen.
Chinese President Hu Jintao's statement at the United Nations climate summit Tuesday in New York on actively tackling global warming was a "sincere and inspiring" stance shown by the world's largest developing country, leading climate policy experts said Wednesday.
I hope China will categorically outline her stance on vital international issues. I would be totally disappointed if deliberations after this UN summits turn out to be "the same old wine in old cups."
 
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