Hu calls on major economies to combat climate change

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-09 16:25

TOYAKO - Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward a three-point proposal Wednesday for the world's major economies on the fight against climate change.

Hu made the proposal when addressing the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, which gathered leaders from Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea and the Group of Eight (G8) nations at Toyako, a resort town on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

"As countries represented at this meeting differ in terms of stage of development, level of scientific and technological development and national conditions, our endeavor to combat climate change should be guided by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities," he said. "We believe efforts should be made in the following areas."

Firstly, Hu said, major economies should play an exemplary role in fulfilling the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol.

The UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol, which have established the framework, principles and goals for international cooperation on climate change, reflect the differences in the level of economic development, historical responsibilities and per capita emissions among countries and set out the efforts that developed and developing countries should make respectively, he said.

"Developed countries should make earnest efforts to attain the goal of emission reduction defined in the Protocol and take concrete measures to honor their commitments of providing funding and technology transfer to developing countries," Hu said.

"Developing countries should adopt policy measures for mitigation and adaptation and make whatever contribution as they can to the fight against climate change in the context of sustainable development," he added.

Secondly, major economies should actively advance international negotiations, said the Chinese president.

Hu said this year and the next are crucial to the effort in implementing the Bali Road Map, which charts the course and sets the timetable for international discussions on an international climate change arrangement after 2012.

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