SHANGHAI, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- China is preparing to ratify the Kyoto pact on climate control, a move that will give the protocol on global greenhouse gas reduction support from one of the world's largest polluters while placing increased pressure on the United States to follow suit.
"We are making preparations to approve the pact, but a final decision has not yet been made," a Foreign Ministry official told United Press International on Friday. "Once the protocol is approved, then a formal announcement will be issued."
The official said the treaty is being reviewed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which must give the pact a green light before it goes to China's State Cabinet for final approval. If approved, the pact then goes before China's parliament when it meets next March.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol is an international pact which calls for both developed and developing countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are believed to cause global warming and contribute to rising sea levels.
The protocol requires industrialized countries such as the United States and Australia, both of which have refused to sign the treaty, to cut their emissions to below 1990 volumes over the next decade.
China, the world's second-largest source of greenhouse gases, is considered to be a developing country and therefore not required to meet the protocol's strict emission-reduction targets. But signing the treaty would make China eligible for clean development mechanisms, which give developing nations credits for lowering greenhouse emissions and using cleaner fuel sources.
China has become increasingly concerned about its environmental problems in recent years and has taken its own steps to cut emissions, clean-up polluted rivers and adopt clean energy fuels.
Last year, a study conducted by the Berkeley National Laboratory found China has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent and methane by 2.2 percent from the mid-1990 levels.
"This is a clear indication that China is willing to accept its responsibility for cutting greenhouse gas emissions," said Wang Caifang, a member of the Chinese Meteorological Administration. The meteorologist said China is exploring more environmentally sound energy sources such as natural gas, water hydrology and nuclear power to reduce its reliance on high-sulfur coal burning.
Earlier in the week, a senior Foreign Ministry official told reporters in Beijing that China opposed attempts by industrialized countries to abandon the protocol, hinting that China might ratify it.
"There is no time to waste and no time to have long-lasting debates or negotiations," said Zhang Jun, deputy director of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences.
Zhang told reporters that Beijing intends to make a formal announcement at the United Nations-sponsored Earth Summit in South Africa, which begins in Johannesburg on Monday.
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who will head a delegation of more than 200 government officials, business leaders and environmentalists, is expected to address the weeklong conference.
