America

Chile looks to China's harnessing of solar power: ambassador

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-03 17:02

BEIJING: Chile has much to learn from China's application of solar energy in its efforts to help curb the effects of climate change, said the Chilean Ambassador to China Wednesday.

Solar energy was applied everywhere in China, in water heaters, and in billboard, street and traffic lights, said ambassador Fernando Reyes Matta.

It was a practice Chile could replicate in its sunshine-rich north, said Reyes Matta.

Both countries had much to learn in exchanges regarding energy allocation and legislation and they should work together to combat climate change.

China announced last week it would reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent compared with the level of 2005.

Reyes Matta said the world needed to put specific targets for emissions reduction on the table, and China's target was welcomed by the world.

"I have seen China's rapid economic development and the pollution it brought. The air in China is much cleaner than four years ago," he said.

The workshop on energy and environment in October, held by the Chilean embassy and the Latin American research center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences marked a beginning of expert exchanges between the two sides, said Reyes Matta.