China today unveiled its first firm target to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a carbon intensity goal that prime minister Wen Jiabao will take to climate talks next month as his country's central commitment.
The announcement came a day after the United States unveiled its proposal to cut greenhouse gases by 2020 and said President Barack Obama would attend the UN-led talks in Copenhagen.
China, the top emitter of greenhouse gases from human activity, said Mr Jiabao would also attend the December talks and pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each yuan of national income 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.
The offer was hailed as a vital political commitment towards rekindling stalled negotiations to fix a new framework for tackling global warming, even though analysts cautioned it was technically quite modest for China.
"It is very similar to the previous 15 years of progress," said Jim Watson, who studies emissions trajectories at the Tyndall Centre for climate change research in Britain.
"Add to that further economic restructuring over time, and this goal sounds eminently doable. But certainly it's very helpful for Copenhagen to have this number on the table."
The talks have run out of time to settle a legally binding deal after rancorous arguments between rich and poor nations about who should cut emissions, by how much and who should pay. But hopes are growing that a substantive political pact can be agreed at the December meeting instead.
China's target comes after big emitters Brazil and Indonesia also announced tough 2020 reduction targets. Wednesday's 2020 target from the United States and Obama's attendance are also expected to help the Copenhagen talks, analysts say.
"This is a huge morale booster," said John Hay, spokesman for the UN Climate Change Secretariat, referring to both the Chinese target and the planned visit by President Obama.
But in a reminder of the serious disputes that still shadow the summit, China's top climate envoy took aim at developed nations he said were slacking in their efforts to cut emissions and said new Chinese target was only "domestically binding".
"So far we have not seen concrete actions and substantive commitments by the developed countries," Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of powerful planning body the National Development and Reform Committee, told a hastily arranged news conference in Beijing.
Reuters