Beijing’s top climate negotiator Xie Zenhua said that international discussions for a new global climate treaty starting from 2020 should not begin until next year, after the securing of renewed pledges by developed nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emission from 2013. “Building on such progress, countries can move forwards to seek a consensus for the post-2020 scheme, with formal negotiations to be launched next year,” Xie said. Li Yan, a Greenpeace China climate campaigner, said that the extension of the Kyoto Protocol, with fewer countries ready to renew their emission-reduction pledges, would have only limited effectiveness in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. “It is understandable that China and other developing nations do not want to see the new treaty move too fast before the sorting out of other problems – rich countries’ commitments on emission reduction, financing and technical aide,” Li said. Delegates at UN talks in South Africa last year agreed that nations would hammer out a new deal by 2015 to fight climate change after 2020. Li said that Beijing was prepared to take on some emission-reduction obligations after 2020, but it was not yet ready to formally commit to such obligations.

Shanghai is expected to enjoy slightly clearer skies next year as vehicles use cleaner gas. China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) will provide the new fuel and diesel that meets the Euro V emission standards at city gas stations by the National Day holiday next October. The measure will decrease PM2.5 emissions, as vehicles contribute about 25% of it. Zhang Quan, Director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Administration, said the city has up to 230,000 vehicles viewed as highly polluting. The city now uses National IV emission standards – equivalent to Euro IV. Euro V fuel or liquified gas vehicles emit about 30% less nitrogen oxides than their Euro IV counterparts, researchers found. But pollution could still increase as more vehicles hit the roads. Shanghai has more than 1.7 million private cars, and the number would surpass 3.3 million if steps, such as a plate auction, were not taken, officials said.

“Low-carbon development is now having a more obvious influence on China’s foreign trade,” Wang Shouwen, Director of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), told a seminar during the China International Green Innovative Products & Technologies Show 2012 in Guangzhou. “Developed economies such as the EU and the U.S. have actively promoted carbon tariffs and carbon certification, having an increasing potential effect on Chinese exports. In addition to the trade policies of developed economies, business activities of transnational companies will affect Chinese foreign trade as they now prefer low-carbon products in their procurement,” Wang said. Though the U.S. Congress did not pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, it could become law in the future and entitle the government to impose carbon tariffs on Chinese exports beginning in 2020, according to Wang. It would affect Chinese exports in 46 industries including steel and nonferrous metals. The EU has now postponed implementation of the EU Emission Trading Scheme on all international flights to and from the EU until September 2013, but if  China would have to pay the tariff, it would add CNY2,000 in transportation costs to each ton of cargo and lower the profit of export businesses by about 2%,” according to Wang. In 2010, Chinese exports to the EU totaled USD311.24 billion, and 17.31% were carried by aircraft. “If the EU were to impose tariffs on aviation, and emission reduction into ocean transportation industries, this would surely have a great impact on Chinese exports, as Chinese exports through ocean shipping account for one-fifth of the world’s total,” Zhou Maorong, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Studies at Wuhan University, said. However the promotion of the green sector can also serve as the driving force for the country’s trade to develop a new competitive edge, Wang said. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 2012 summit, held in Vladivostok in September, saw leaders agree on a list of 54 green technologies that will be subject to import duties of 5% or less by 2015, which “brings new opportunities for Chinese exporters amid challenging global trade”, according to Commerce Minister Chen Deming, as reported by the China Daily.

Some cities in East China have started planning how to cap their greenhouse gas emissions, and their experiences will act as an example for other cities, said He Jiankun, Deputy Director of the National Climate Change Expert Committee. Greenhouse gas emissions in some eastern coastal areas are expected to peak at around 2020. However, at this stage, China cannot shoulder absolute emission cuts as it is constrained by its development stage, which is in the middle of urbanization and industrialization, he added. Some developed countries made commitments for absolute emissions, but if that is converted into carbon intensity reduction, between 1990 to 2010, China’s carbon intensity declined by 50%, while that of the developed economies’ declined by 30%, according to He. At the same time, he said it is unsustainable for China’s resource-abundant western regions to replicate the development path of eastern coastal areas, which were heavily reliant on the heavy chemical industry at a high cost to the environment. “How the western regions can explore a low-carbon path is an urgent challenge facing China,” said He. “Reasonable growth rates are important for China, but it has entered into a stage where efficiency and quality of economic development matters more,” He added. “Without shifting to a low-carbon path, it’s difficult for China to build its international competitiveness in the long run,” he concluded.

China’s carbon emissions per head are approaching those of the European Union, but are still about a third of the United States’, according to research published in the latest edition of the science journal Nature Climate Change. Emissions per person in China were 6.6 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) compared to the EU’s 7.3 tons. The figure for the U.S. was 17.2 tons. However, China is still the world’s biggest contributor of global carbon dioxide emissions which are due to reach a record high of 35.6 billion tons this year, according to the Global Carbon Project led by researchers from the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research at the UK’s University of East Anglia. China was responsible for 28% of emissions in 2011 compared to the United States (16%), the EU (11%), and India (7%). Emissions in China and India grew by 9.9% and 7.5% in 2011, while those of the U.S. and the EU decreased by 1.8% and 2.8%, according to the Fudan Tyndall Center. “Something like 30% of China’s carbon emissions are related to goods consumed in other countries,” said Chen Jianmin, Director of the Fudan Center and Professor in the University’s Environmental Science and Engineering Department.