China To Study Steps To Help Halve Global Emissions By 2050

“In an apparent policy shift, China has agreed to ‘take notice of’ a Japanese proposal for halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to ‘study measures’ to help meet the goal, sources familiar with Japan-China relations said Thursday.

The two countries are planning to announce the agreement in a joint statement on global warming to be issued after a meeting between Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Chinese President Hu Jintao next Wednesday in Tokyo, the sources said. China, the world's second-biggest carbon emitter after the United States, has opposed setting global emissions reduction targets, fearing that Beijing could be forced to cut emissions. China is not obliged to cut emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. …” [Kyodo News (Japan)/Factiva]

Jiji Press writes that “… China's positive stance toward the approach would be ‘a major step forward’ in Japanese efforts to forge an agreement on how to address climate change at this year's Group of Eight summit to be held in Hokkaido in July, a senior Foreign Ministry official said. …

China will make it clear that it will participate in talks to devise a new international framework for greenhouse gas cuts that will succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, set to expire in 2012, and welcome Japan's assistance measures designed to help developing countries address climate change issues. Japan, for its part, will express its readiness to help China push ahead with energy-saving and other measures against global warming. …” [Jiji Press English News Service (Japan)/Factiva]