BEIJING, July 24 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged China to take the lead in the fight against climate change, stressing that its role is crucial to the success of December meetings to form a new climate change pact.
"China has the size and power to blaze a new trail for the world. It has the vision to create a new clean-energy path to prosperity," Ban said today during the launching of China's "Green Lights Project" energy-saving initiative.
China's position as a global power is inherent with increased responsibilities, Ban said, particularly its role in the December Copenhagen conference to approve a global emissions pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
"Without China, there can be no success this year on a new global climate framework," Ban said, the BBC reports.
China and other developing countries have opposed compulsory emissions cuts, maintaining that it is up to developed countries that have been longtime polluters to solve the problem.
Ban urged China to take the lead, pointing out that it can serve as a model for other developing nations.
"Strong signals from China on mitigation actions announced before Copenhagen will help push the negotiating process forward," Ban said. "They can also direct responsibility to other key countries to do more."
Ban has scheduled a September summit of world leaders in advance of the Copenhagen conference in an effort to ensure that a deal is reached.
China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and is the second-largest energy consumer.
While Ban noted that he was impressed by China's efforts in renewable energy and energy efficiency, he urged the country to accelerate national initiatives, including energy and carbon intensity targets.
"If it's just business as usual, China will account for 25 percent or more of the world's carbon dioxide emissions by 2030," Yan Fuqiang, a climate change expert at WWF International, told the BBC.
China, Ban said, can be a model not just for developing nations, but for the whole world as well.
"By investing in green growth, your country can leapfrog over decades of traditional development based on dirty fuels," Ban said. "The key is prioritizing clean energy, which can create new jobs, spur innovation, and usher in a new era of global prosperity. In so doing, China can serve as the vanguard of tomorrow's economy, today."
Ban's four-day visit to China includes talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other officials. On Sunday he travels to Mongolia, where he will hold further discussions on climate change.
