Australia and China have signed an initial deal to co-operate on tackling the effects of climate change through advancing energy efficiency, low emissions technology co-operation and improving emissions data reporting.
The Australia-China Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Climate Change Cooperation was signed by Australian foreign minister Julia Bishop and the vice-chairman of the economic planning agency NDRC, Zhu Zhixin. The agreement was signed during the visit to Australia by Chinese president Xi Jinping for the G20 meeting in Brisbane and the signing of a free trade deal between the two countries.
"The MoU is an important signal of Australia's constructive climate change engagement with the world's biggest emitter and our number one trading partner," Bishop said. Australia accounts for about 1pc of global emissions and China about a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But China has about 20pc of the world's population, while Australia has about 0.3pc making it one of the highest GHG emissions on a per capita basis in the developed world.
"The MoU provides the framework for an officials-level working group and encourages participation from business, industry and the scientific communities," Bishop said.
The signing of the agreement follows the sixth Australia-China Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Change with the NRDC in Beijing on 10 November. This included discussions on reaching a global agreement on emissions reductions for the 21st Conference of Parties meeting under the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change in Paris next year.
"We also agreed to further our co-operation to assist China track and report its emissions, and we committed to improving the emissions efficiency of coal as a priority," Bishop said.
The China-Australia agreement follows the G20 governments over the weekend agreeing to support strong and effective action on climate change, encouraging countries to advance their emissions reduction plans by the end of next year's first quarter ahead of the Paris meeting.
The US and China last week agreed to set emissions targets post 2020. The US pledged to cut emissions by 26-28pc by 2025 from 2005 levels, while China said its CO2 emissions will peak by 2030 and would have 20pc of its energy coming from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
km/rjd
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