Curb wasteful lifestyles, Chinese urge

Australian
Thursday 16/4/2009 Page: 5

CHINESE climate experts have urged rich nations to rein in their "wasteful and luxurious" lifestyles and say Australia's carbon reduction targets are insufficient to reverse damaging climate change. Arguing that developed countries needed to take the lead in tackling climate change, the experts told an Australia-China climate conference in Canberra yesterday that any global solution should be based on per capita emissions.

Such an approach would be damaging for Australia, which has high per capita emissions. China has the highest total emissions of any country, but its per capita emissions are only about one-fifth of Australia's. The call came as economists and scientists told a Senate inquiry that the Rudd Government's emissions trading scheme was badly designed and its targets were too low.

The inquiry also heard from scientists who doubted humans were responsible for global warming. The Government is facing a battle to push its scheme through the Senate, as the Greens yesterday attacked it as too weak, and the Coalition said it did not provide enough protection for trade-exposed industries. Pan Jiahua from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said the planet could not afford countries such as Australia and the US having such "wasteful and luxurious" lifestyles.

Professor Pan called for a global carbon budget that allowed countries to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis and to pay for emissions above that. World leaders are due to negotiate a fresh climate pact in December at UN talks in Copenhagen, and China is seen as key to that process. Professor Pan told The Australian the Chinese Government would not push for an approach based on per capita emissions at Copenhagen, but might argue it be included in post-Copenhagen negotiations. "So far, from the feedback I have received, they seem somewhat friendly to this approach," Professor Pan said.

He said he thought the Chinese Government might agree to a voluntary cut in emissions at Copenhagen. "My early advice (to the Government) is you have been doing so much, why don't you make some sort of voluntary emissions reduction target?' " he said. Professor Pan said Australia's target of 5 to 15% reductions on 2000 levels by 2020 was "certainly insufficient", when compared with targets set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "This would set a very bad example for the developing countries," he said.

The Rudd Government's climate adviser Ross Garnaut, in a video message, backed the Chinese experts' calls for a global pact based on a per capita greenhouse allowance. He said this was fair. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong yesterday called for leadership to be shown "across the globe and on many fronts". "In this context, and commensurate with its role in global affairs, China will play a critical role in building a global deal on climate change," she told the conference at the Australian National University.