China yesterday called on rich nations to establish a public fund within the Kyoto Protocol to facilitate transfer of green technology to developing countries.

 

Part of the revenues for the fund could be generated by developed countries levying taxes on carbon emissions, environmental pollution or energy and resource consumption, said Zou Ji, one of 40-odd Chinese delegates attending the world climate conference which is in its crucial final week in Bali, Indonesia.

 

At yesterday's meeting, the UN climate chief, Yvo de Boer, said cutting emissions by up to 40 percent was crucial for reining in rising temperatures and drawing investors who can provide the high-tech solutions needed to ward off catastrophe.

 

Zou, also a professor at Renmin University of China, said technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be more popular in developing countries if the pricing is reasonable.

 

He said the fund he proposed will provide incentives to technology holders, mostly big private companies, to transfer technologies to countries such as China, which is thirsty for green expertise.

 

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, industrialized countries are obliged to take practical steps to promote, facilitate and finance the transfer of, or access to, environmentally sound technologies and know-how to developing countries.

 

"However, China has had to pay very high prices for such technologies to raise energy efficiency and facilitate sustainable development," Zou said.

 

Citing the example of Integrated Gasification Combined Circle (IGCC) technology used in power generation, he said it has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 25-50 percent, or even more, which will help China - which depends mostly on coal for power generation - to cut emissions sharply.

 

But there is no commercial plant using IGCC technology in the country because the cost of power generation is about two times that of conventional production.

 

China urgently needs advanced green technologies not only in power generation but also in transportation, construction, metallurgy and chemical industries, he said.

 

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international non-governmental organization, said yesterday: "They (developed countries) need to recognize the need of developing countries for technology transfer and financing of new, cleaner technologies - and they need to put up the cash to support their good intentions."

 

(China Daily December 11, 2007)