Chinese experts urge Australia for effective climate change response

Chinese climate experts have urged rich countries to cut back on their wasteful and luxurious lifestyle, pointing out that Australia's carbon reduction targets were insufficient to reverse damaging climate change.

The say that the lead for tackling climate change should come from developed countries. The experts were speaking at a Australia-China climate conference held in Canberra. They said that a global solution needed a per capita emissions approach.

China leads the world in total emissions but its per capita emissions are only a fifth that of Australia.

The call comes in the wake of economics and scientists submissions to a senate inquiry committee. They said that the Australian government's emissions trading was flawed and the targets were too low.

 The inquiry also heard from scientists who doubted that human activities caused climate change. Environmental geologist from James Cook University, Robert Carter, said the basis for Professor Garnaut's report was wrong.

He said there was no evidence that humans are causing changes in global climate.

He said both reports namely, the Stern Report and Garnaut Report are reports by distinguished economists and have no basis in scientific expertise.

Meanwhile, the Australian government faces a tough situation with the Greens attacking the government for being too weak, while other detractors of its environmental policies pointing out that it failed to address protection needs for trade-exposed enterprises.

Pan Jiahua from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that wasteful and luxurious lifestyles of countries like Australia and US were unaffordable and proposed a global carbon budget that would fix a basic allowable limit on emissions on a per capita basis beyond which they would be required to pay.

A fresh climate pact will be negotiated between world leaders at the UN later in December this year in Copenhagen; China will play a key role in the process. However, professor Pan said the Australian and Chinese governments would not push for a per capita emissions approach at Copenhagen, but might argue for inclusion in post-Copenhagen negotiations.

He said that from the feedback he had received they appear to be in favour of the approach and added that the Chinese government might agree to voluntary emissions cuts in Copenhagen.

According to Professor Pan Australia's target of five to 15 per cent reductions on 2000 levels by 2020 was insufficient in the context of targets set b the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change.

Ross Garnaut, climate adivisor to the Australian government supported the Chinese experts' call for a per capita greenhouse allowance terming it as ''fair'', in a video message.

Australian climate change minister Penny Wong did not respond directly to Dr Pan's comments, but said Australia would set a stronger 2050 target in the next election on reaching a global agreement. She added that Australia recognised this as one point in what would be a multi-decade transformation of the Australian economy.