BEIJING
Mon Feb 1, 2010 2:04pm EST
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addresses the session of United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen December 18, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Bob Strong
BEIJING (Reuters) - China backs a climate change accord struck at a contentious summit late last year and wants a binding global agreement from talks culminating in Mexico later this year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said.
The Chinese leader endorsed the "Copenhagen Accord" in letters on January 29 to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country hosted the rancorous summit that produced the controversial, last-minute document on fighting global warming, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
Since then, China and over other 50 nations have outlined their plans for reducing greenhouse gases and addressing climate change under a January 31 deadline, aiming to set in motion negotiations seeking a full pact in Mexico late in 2010.
In its submission, China repeated what it calls a voluntary domestic goal to cut the amount of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, produced for every unit of economic output by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared to levels in 2005.
