Allegedly part of China’s 13th 5-year plan.
China will apply a cap on its greenhouse gas emissions by 2016, according to local media.
The National Development and Reform Council (NDRC) has sent a proposal to the State Council for approval that would place a limit on the world’s biggest emitter. It is expected to be supportive of the plan.
The new regime in Beijing has backed climate and environmental action in the country calling for the development of an “ecological civilisation”, offering hope for the new UN climate deal…
Geoff is right to be cynical, since the leadership and everyone in Beijing etc. knows the actual problem is black smog. They could fix the problem with scrubbers. The CO2 thingie is a pretext for something else they want to do.
Why should China be different? It never really was about CO2 or global temperatures. It was always about money and political power, and still is.
My cynical (Sinocal?) component says that this may be to maintain control over the industrial leadership, to curry goodies from eco-fools, or some of each. I doubt very much that China’s leaders have developed a genuine spirit of environmental concern.