CRI听力: EU, China dialogue on Climate Change

The European Union has declared its commitment, in tandem with China, to responding to environmental problems with specific guidelines. CRI's Tom Chen has the story.

Reporter:
Climate change is a phenomenon that cannot be dealt with alone.

At the press conference on the Eu-China Dialogue on Climate Change on Monday, Sweden's Minister of Environment Andreas Carlgren emphasized that when the issue at hand is climate change, time is of the utmost importance.

He commended China for having already commenced the necessary journey toward a cleaner atmosphere.

"And it has been positive to acknowledge that a lot of action is already taken in China, and that targets will be improved also in the coming Five-Year Plans."

He expressed the wish to speed up negotiations with China regarding climate change and obtain tangible results in a shorter timeframe.

Carlgren also spoke about the need for both sides to lead by example.

Instead of only pointing out each other's failings in environmental policy and its implementation, both should set definite targets to accomplish by a specified period of time, thereby showing countries in the developed and the developing world that fulfilling one's promises to one's own people is often the best way to carry out one's obligations towards the international community.

Carlgren observed that there have already been many environmental projects between the EU and China. He hopes that the results of existing projects will be improved, and that more projects will be implemented.

Spain will hold EU's next Presidency. Spanish Secretary of State for Climate Change Terese Rivera said that China has asked the EU to set rigid standards for itself to live up to in terms of emission reduction.

"China asked the EU to go straight into the minus 30%, and we expressed that we are already committed to that minus 30%."(www.hXen.com)

Rivera believes that the dialogue could pave the way for more fruitful exchanges in the future, most notably at the Copenhagen Climate Conference later in the fall.

For CRI News, this is Tom Chen.