Memorandum by the Department of Energy
& Climate Change
1. What are the main elements of the EU's
policy on cooperation with China on climate change? To what extent
is this cooperation successful, and what are the obstacles to
greater cooperation? Does the EU (EU institutions and Member States)
have a common and coherent approach to cooperation with China
on climate change.
An EU-China partnership is critical to moving
to a global low-carbon economy: an alliance between the world's
fastest growing economy and the world's biggest single market
would potentially drive down the costs of low carbon choices by
accelerating market growth.
The commitment of the EU and China to cooperation
on environment and energy issues, including climate change, was
underlined and given an institutional structure at the 8th EU-China
Summit in September 2005. At this Summit and under the UK's Presidency
of the EU, a Joint Declaration on Climate Change was agreed, launching
the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change. This partnership provides
a high-level political framework to further strengthen the cooperation
between EU and China by setting out concrete new actions to tackle
climate change. These actions are set out in the Rolling Work
Plan:
This partnership fully complements the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. It strengthens
cooperation and dialogue on climate change, including clean energy,
and promotes sustainable development. It includes cooperation
on the development, demonstration, deployment and transfer of
low carbon technology, including advanced near-zero-emissions
coal technology through carbon capture and storage. The EU's policy
on energy co-operation with China is to intensify collaboration
on energy security with a view to creating a stable, secure, efficient
and clean energy environment and to promoting open and competitive
energy markets.
The EU—at both institutional and member
state level—has regular high level dialogue with China on
climate change. Twice yearly the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism
discusses multilateral issues, presents new domestic climate change
initiatives and reviews the Rolling Work Plan.
2. To what extent is China vulnerable to the
adverse impacts of climate change, both in the short and long
term? What are the main elements of China's strategy for the mitigation
and adaptation to climate change?
Like all countries China is vulnerable to the
adverse impacts of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) reports pronounced warming across the
whole country during the past 50 years, leading to a number
of observed adverse impacts. These include increases in flooding
in both the North East and Eastern regions of China in addition
glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau have been retreating more quickly
in recent years than before, leading to an increase in the frequency
of glacial lake outbursts, with associated mudflows and avalanches.
In parts of the country, the increase in temperature
and decreases in rainfall, along with increasing water use, have
caused water shortages that have led to drying up of lakes and
rivers. Severe droughts and unregulated groundwater withdrawal
have also resulted in sea-water intrusion in coastal plains.
The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) (2007)
supported by other research, indicates that future temperature
increases in China are likely to be greater than the global average
increases. If emissions continue unabated, temperatures in China
could rise to about 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2050,
and 4°C or more above pre-industrial levels by the end of
the century. As a result it is estimated that an additional 1 Billion
people would be at risk from water stress by the end of the century,
partly owing to salt-intrusion in coastal regions caused by over-extraction,
sea level rise and increases in drought frequency. Such temperature
changes could have a significant impact on human health and well-being,
especially in Chinese cities, through increased risks of vector—and
water-borne diseases, cardio-vascular and respiratory diseases;
and heat stress..
CHINA'S
STRATEGY FOR
THE MITIGATION
AND ADAPTATION
TO CLIMATE
CHANGE
In 2007 the Chinese Government published
a National Climate Change Programme and established a National
Leading Group on Climate Change, led by Premier Wen Jiabao and
comprising 14 Ministries. The National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) plays the lead role, alongside the ministries
of Foreign Affairs, Science and Technology, Finance, and Industry
and Information Technologies, and the Chinese Meteorological Administration.
The National Climate Change Programme sets out
a number of substantial mitigation actions on energy efficiency,
renewables, and reforestation. These include a programme to improve
energy efficiency in China's 1,000 largest enterprises, which
account for 37% of China's primary energy and 50% of industrial
energy consumption; retiring inefficient power and industrial
plants; energy efficiency standards for buildings; and vehicle
fuel consumption standards. The Programme also sets out targeted
adaptive actions for agriculture; forests and other natural ecosystems;
water resources; and coastal zones.
The programme provides for the implementation
of a wide range of energy and industrial policies that, while
focused on energy security, contribute to emissions reductions.
The Chinese Government estimates that these policies will result
in the mitigation of 1.85 Billion tonnes of CO2 over
the 2006-2010 period. (Around 36% of total EU emissions in
2006.)
The EU is supporting ongoing Chinese government
work on a stronger cross-cutting policy framework for dealing
with adaptation at national and provincial level.
3. What are the prospects for China committing
to ambitious and binding targets for reductions in its greenhouse
gas emissions at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen
in December 2009? Does the EU have a strategy to persuade China
to support an ambitious deal?
The Chinese government have made a number of
statements expressing the importance they place on tackling climate
change and is participating fully in the formal negotiating processes
under the UNFCCC. At the World Economic Forum in January Premier
Wen Jiabao said to "We take the issue of climate change very
seriously," and set out his country's stepped-up regulations
regarding emissions.
The EU Position is that averting dangerous anthropogenic
climate change requires the increase in global mean surface temperature
to be kept below 2°C compared with pre-industrial levels.
As a consequence the EU believes that developed countries as a
group should reduce their emissions to 30% below 1990 levels
in 2020. The EU has set the example by committing to a 20% reduction
in its emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2020, irrespective
of whether or not an international agreement is concluded.
The EU is willing to go further and sign up
to a 30% reduction target in the context of a sufficiently ambitious
and comprehensive international agreement that provides for comparable
reductions by other developed countries, and appropriate actions
by developing countries. Developing countries as a group should
limit the growth of their emissions to 15 to 30% below business
as usual.
The EU's policy on climate change co-operation
with China is to intensify collaboration with a view to, securing
an ambitious outcome at Copenhagen, based on the principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities. The EU—at both
institutional and member state level—is pursuing a range
of bilateral discussions with the objective of securing effective
Chinese participation in an agreement at Copenhagen.
4. What is the EU doing to help China increase
its energy efficiency at the national, provincial and local levels?
The promotion of energy efficiency is an important
component of the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change. The Partnership
supports EU and Chinese efforts to reduce the energy intensity
of their economies, and incorporates the China-EU Action Plan
on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies. The Plan's objectives
are to establish closer contacts between the EU and China and
promote industrial co-operation aimed at increasing the use of
energy efficiency and renewable energies. Progress is regularly
reviewed by EU-China Summits.
A key delivery mechanism for the Plan is the
EU-China Energy and Environment Programme (EEP) which aims to
foster cooperation between Chinese and EU industries in China's
energy markets; strengthen the security of energy supply in both
China and Europe; protect the global environment; and to ensure
sustainable development. Energy efficiency objectives under the
programme focus on the five areas of, energy policy development;
standards; energy-saving potential in energy-intensive industries;
energy efficiency in small and medium size boilers; and incentive
mechanisms to promote energy savings in China.
These objectives are delivered through policy
advice to national and local authorities studies and seminars,
awareness-raising and capacity building through information exchange
and training, and promotion of technology deployment through funding
of feasibility studies and demonstration projects.
In addition, the EU-China Energy Conference
gathers together high-level representatives from European and
Chinese from industries and governments every two years.
On 30th January 2009, the EU and China signed
nine cooperation agreements aimed at developing global solutions
to various aspects of the global financial crisis and climate
change. Among these was the Europe-China Clean Energy Centre (EC2,
previously agreed at the 2007 EU-China summit), a project
which will create a permanent Centre in Beijing to promote the
use of cleaner energy technologies and to support energy conservation
and efficiency, thus assisting China in its transition to a low-carbon
economy. The EU and China also agreed to set-up a regular dialogue
on energy efficiency standards in construction.
In addition the EU has been instrumental in
the creation of the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency
Co-operation, a new high-level forum to co-ordinate international
efforts to promote energy efficiency and to build capacity for
the implementation of successful energy efficiency policies and
programmes. The Partnership will be formally launched later this
year and China will be a founding member.
5. At the 8th EU-China Summit in September
2005, a Joint Declaration on Climate Change was agreed, launching
the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change. This partnership provides
a high level political framework to further strengthen the cooperation
between the EU and China by setting out concrete new actions to
tackle climate change. What is the Government's assessment of
the progress made so far under the Partnership? What are the main
challenges that it faces?
This partnership provides a high-level political
framework to further strengthen the cooperation between EU and
China by setting out concrete new actions to tackle climate change.
These actions are set out in the Rolling Work Plan, as agreed
in Beijing on 19 October 2006.
This partnership fully complements the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. It strengthens
cooperation and dialogue on climate change, including clean energy,
and promotes sustainable development. It includes cooperation
on the development, demonstration, deployment and transfer of
low carbon technology, including advanced near-zero-emissions
coal technology through carbon capture and storage. In broad terms,
the EU's policy on energy co-operation with China is to intensify
collaboration on energy security with a view to creating a stable,
secure, efficient and clean energy environment and to promoting
open and competitive energy markets.
The EU—at both institutional and member
state level—has regular high level dialogue with China on
climate change. Twice yearly the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism
discusses multilateral issues, presents new domestic climate change
initiatives and reviews the Rolling Work Programme.
The Partnership was created to strengthen cooperation
and dialogue on climate change and energy between the EU and China.
This work includes a strong focus the development and deployment
of clean energy technology.
The UK Government believes that the Partnership
is making good progress in achieving these objectives.
6. How important is the Near Zero Emission
Coal (NZEC) technology for addressing the challenge of China's
rising greenhouse gas emissions in the future? What progress is
being made in the EU-China "Near-Zero Emissions Coal Initiative"?
How great are the scientific and technological hurdles that must
be overcome before this technology can be incorporated into industrial
installations on a large scale in the EU and China?
Global energy demand is projected to increase
by 45% between 2006 and 2030; 40% of this increase will come
from China alone. Coal fired power generation and heat related
CO2 emissions in China will increase by 2.4 times between
2004 and 2030 (IEA, 2006).
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the only
set of technologies with the potential to address emissions from
coal power generation.
The EU-China Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC)
initiative was announced as part of the EU-China Partnership on
Climate Change at the EU-China Summit in September 2005. It was
agreed that both partners would aim "to develop and demonstrate
in China and the EU advanced, near-zero emissions coal technology
through carbon capture and storage" by 2020. More recently,
at the UK-China Summit 2009, political support was announced to
demonstrate CCS through the EU-China NZEC agreement by 2015.
Memoranda of Understanding were signed between
the UK and Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in
December 2005, and between MOST and the European Commission in
February 2006, leading to the UK-China NZEC and COACH (Co-operation
Action within CCS China-EU) projects respectively. Both projects
are looking at options for CCS in China (although COACH focuses
specifically on polygeneration), and will be completed in Autumn
2009.
The UK-China NZEC Initiative includes a range
of Chinese and European partners working around the themes of
knowledge sharing and capacity building; future technology perspectives;
case studies for carbon dioxide capture; carbon dioxide storage
potential; and policy assessment.
The UK-China initiative was launched by Vice-Minister
Liu Yanhua and the British Deputy Ambassador to China, Barbara
Woodward, in November 2007. Considerable progress has been made
since the project's start, both in terms of building important
evidence on more technical issues, and in strengthening relationships
between Chinese and European CCS experts. This has included capacity
building activities such as a workshop for Chinese storage experts
hosted in the UK by the British Geological Survey; a CCS study
tour in the UK and Europe in March 2009 for Chinese policy
makers to learn about CCS in a European context, including through
visiting a pilot plant and talking to key experts in industry
and government; and arranging for Chinese students to study in
UK academic institutions with particular expertise in CCS.
Final results from the UK-China Initiative will
be launched in Autumn 2009. They will include a final report exploring
options to help shape and drive the activities necessary for establishing
CCS in China, with an emphasis on moving towards an NZEC demonstration.
More details of this launch event will be made available at www.NZEC.info,
which also provides further details of the UK NZEC initiative.
More information on the COACH project can be found at www.co2-coach.com.
The Support to Regulatory Activities for Carbon
Capture and Storage (STRACO2) is a further element of the EU-China
Partnership on Climate Change. By incorporating the Administrative
Centre for China's Agenda 21 (ACCA21), who are also involved
in the NZEC Initiative and COACH project, their work aims to ensure
that the development of a regulatory framework for CCS in the
European Union is at least in part relevant to rapidly developing
economies such as China. The programme started in January 2008 and
will run for 18 months. For further information see: http://www.euchina-ccs.org/index.php
Building on these capacity building activities,
Phase II (design of plant) of the EU-China NZEC initiative, which
is being led by the European Commission, should begin in early
2010. In preparation, China and the European Commission need to
agree an approach to the costs of demonstration, finance, intellectual
property rights (IPR) and regulation. The project and site for
the demonstration will also need to be selected.
The European Commission is planning to publish
a Communication on financing CCS in developing countries in mid
2009, which will set out a financial model for NZEC.
The technologies and processes of capture, transport
and storage have been shown to work independently at pilot scale.
The challenge now lies in demonstrating the combined technologies
and processes at commercial scale and in different countries/contexts
(eg Indian coal is not the same as Chinese coal, and storage potential
is different throughout the world), and in improving the efficiency
of the technologies and bringing down the costs.
7. Another goal of the EU-China Partnership
on climate change is to reduce the cost of key energy technologies
and promote their deployment and dissemination. What mechanisms
and funding are foreseen in order to achieve this goal? What progress
has been made so far and what are the main obstacles encountered?
Responses to questions 6 and 9 set
out some specific EU-China activities which aim to significantly
reduce the cost of key energy technologies and promote their deployment
and dissemination. A full list of activities is set out in the
Rolling Work Plan which can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/pdf/china/rwp_180808.pdf
).
At the EU-China Summit in November 2007, the
European Investment Bank signed a Climate Change Framework Loan
of €500 million to finance projects in China that contribute
to combating climate change.
The UK, EU and China are working with other
parties in the UNFCCC framework to agree the most viable means
to finance the dissemination of key technologies.
Over time, the global development and deployment
of lower cost, clean energy technologies, requires a global solution.
The UK's preferred approach is that a transformation in the carbon
market and in particular greater use of sector based emissions
trading and crediting mechanisms will play a key role in future
finance, but there are many other options on the negotiating table.
A further assessment of the future development of the carbon market
is set out below in response to question 8.
8. What is the objective of the EU-China Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) facilitation project? How well is
the project progressing, and what obstacles does it face? What
Mechanisms are in place to ensure that the funding for the CDM
is well spent and actually reduces emissions by the target amount?
The EU-China CDM Facilitation Project aims to
strengthen the role of the CDM to help China's path to sustainable
development. It is being implemented by Chinese and European partners,
supported by grants from the European Commission. The project
started in February 2007 and will end in January 2010. Through
a series of activities including policy research, capacity building
and training programmes, the project focuses on China's policy
and regulatory regime for CDM development and will provide policy
recommendations to CDM policy-makers in Europe and China. It brings
together a wide range of stakeholders at public and private sector
levels involved in CDM projects.
The project is progressing well, broadly in
line with the work plan. The training programme component in Germany
has been particularly successful, resulting in two Chinese organisations
receiving accreditation qualifying them to audit CDM projects
as Designated Organisational Entities. A major obstacle to delivery
has been reaching consensus on how to improve the level of technology
transfer. The forthcoming report on technology transfer—to
be published later this year—will present both Chinese and
European perspectives. More information will also be available
on other aspects of the Project through a new website and publication
of a further report on the Pre-2012 CDM Market in China.
Funding for emission reductions under CDM is
provided by a wide range of private sector organisations, by developed
country (Annex 1)[20]
governments, and international organisations, including the World
Bank. Investors in individual projects receive credits—Certified
Emission Reductions (CERs)—for emission reductions that
can be sold through the carbon market or used directly for compliance.
CERs can be used by governments to meet Kyoto emission reduction
commitments; by companies complying with emission caps at installation
level (eg under the EU ETS); or by individuals or organisations
voluntarily offsetting emissions.
CDM Projects undergo a rigorous auditing and
verification process, overseen by the UN's CDM's Executive Board,
to ensure that the CERs issued represent genuine emission reductions.
Nevertheless, the Government wishes to see the CDM reformed both
to give greater confidence in the additionality of emission reductions
and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the mechanism.
We are therefore working with EU partners to seek international
agreement for such changes through the UN.
CDM has played an important role in building
capacity in developing countries, in allowing them to participate
in the carbon market as well as supporting their long term transition
to low carbon economies. However, though project based mechanisms
have provided an essential platform for market based approaches
to financing mitigation activity, the UK Government recognises
that project based offsetting mechanisms are limited in terms
of the scale of emission reductions that they can achieve. Advanced
developing countries, such as China, need to build on their experience
and success in attracting CDM investment by moving towards sectoral
crediting and trading mechanisms that will make a net contribution
to emission reductions and achieve financial flows and emission
reductions at scale. Such approaches will provide the basis for
a longer term transition to a fully capped global carbon market.
The UK supports the EU Council Conclusions, issued on 2 March,
which included a proposal "to build, as soon as practicable
and preferably by no later than 2015, a robust OECD-wide carbon
market through the linking of cap-and-trade systems, to be extended
to economically more advanced developing countries by 2020, including
through the adoption by these countries of no-lose or binding
targets which could be linked to participation in sectoral crediting
and trading mechanisms."
9. To what extent are China and the EU cooperating
in the area of scientific research on energy efficiency and technologies
to mitigate climate change? What is the content of the China-EU
Action plan on Energy efficiency and Renewable Energies, which
was agreed by the two sides in March 2005?
The EU-China dialogue on Science and Technology
started in the early 1990s and was one of the first areas of cooperation
between the European Commission and China. The first EU-China
S&T agreement entered into force in late 1999 and it
was renewed in December 2004. Cooperation has increased substantially
since the first S&T agreement was signed. Its aim was to promote
mutually beneficial research activities in a variety of areas,
such as food and environmental safety, the management of natural
resources, the control of infectious diseases etc. Today, this
cooperation shows growing dynamism as is demonstrated, for instance,
by the participation of Chinese partners in more than 100 research
projects funded by the Commission's Framework Programme for research.
China is rapidly becoming one of the most active actors on the
international research scene and in several areas it is a world
leader—examples of the latter are nano materials and energy
components. A principal area for EU-China scientific co-operation
on energy and climate change mitigation is on clean coal technology
(see Q6).
Research on energy saving technologies is an
important part of the wider EU-China dialogue on energy efficiency.
However, given the significant savings that can be achieved using
existing technologies the focus of EU-China co-operation on energy
efficiency has largely been on building capacity for the deployment
of current technologies.
The China-EU Action Plan on Industrial Co-operation
on Energy Efficiency and Renewables agreed by the two sides in
March 2005 was intended to expand co-operation on the compilation
of energy audits to identify energy savings potential, improvement
of motor and air compressor efficiency, replacement of inefficient
industrial boilers, identifying potential for Combined Heat and
Power deployment, improving the efficiency of lighting, co-operating
on development of biofuels and solar energy and identifying potential
for offshore wind.
10. What will be the role of the EU China
Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy, and when will it be
established? Are China and the EU still planning to launch an
Environmental Governance Programme, as announced at the summit
meeting between the Commission President Barroso and Premier Wen
on 25 April 2008?
On 30th March 2009, the EU and China signed
the financing agreement for the ICARE project (Institute for Clean
and Renewable Energy). The aim of the Institute is to increase
capacity for achieving China's energy policies, particularly those
focusing on renewable energy and energy efficiency and to create
durable links between European and Chinese clean and renewable
energy professionals, researchers and academics. The Institute
is expected to be based in Beijing.
The EU-China Environmental Governance programme
was launched in April 2008 and has three main objectives
are to support the Chinese government's pollution control and
environmental conservation efforts, by increasing public participation
in environmental decision making and planning; to enhance the
role of the Chinese general public in protecting the environment
by promoting public awareness about environmental issues, improving
access to environmental information, increasing public participation
in environmental decision-making, and boosting public rights of
appeal and redress; and to provide stronger incentives for enterprises
in China to take a proactive approach to environmental issues.
11. In what ways are the EU and China cooperating
to reduce illegal logging?
The UK recognises the important role of China
in global timber markets, both as a producer and a transit country
for timber. UK objectives on illegal logging and the timber trade
are thus taken forward through a range of bilateral activities,
but also through EU efforts.
The EU and China have both been important actors
in regional Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) Ministerial
meetings in East Asia, Africa and Europe and North Asia. Both
sides have also made a commitment at recent EU-China summits to
address this issue.
An EU-China conference on illegal logging was
held in Beijing in September 2007 which brought together
over 200 participants from China and developed and developing
countries and led to the signature in January 2009 of the
Terms of Reference of a Bilateral Coordination Mechanism on forest
law enforcement and governance. A work plan for this mechanism
is currently under development and the two sides have already
established channels for exchanging information on relevant developments,
such as relevant EU legislative proposals and the outcomes of
dialogue and activities conducted by the EU and by China related
to illegal logging and third countries.
The European Commission has funded two projects
aimed at building links between Chinese timber processors, tropical
timber suppliers and EU importers, in which UK organisations are
important actors (WWF-UK and the UK Timber Trade Federation).
It is also starting up an Asia-wide regional programme to support
forest law enforcement and governance in Asia, in which actions
concerning China are expected to be an important component.
Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade
(FLEGT) was identified as a potential area of trilateral cooperation
in the October 2008 EC Communication on "The EU, Africa
and China: Towards Trilateral Dialogue and Cooperation" and
this will be further developed during 2009 with the full
participation of African countries.
In April 2008 DFID and Defra funded a six-day
European Timber Trade Federation Road Show to Shanghai and Pizhou.
This was designed to give Chinese producers a better understanding
of the requirements of European markets. At the same time the
visit allowed European and Chinese trade associations to discuss
how better cooperation and knowledge transfer could help their
respective members benefit from opportunities in the environmentally
discriminating European market. For details see:
12. To what extent are China and the EU cooperating
in the area of Carbon Trading and innovative finance for investment
in renewable energy and low carbon technologies? Can experiences
gained from the operation of the European Emissions Trading Scheme
(ETS) be usefully shared with the Chinese? Is the recent fall
in the price of Carbon a problem in this respect?
There are a variety of initiatives by EU institutions
and member states to build capacity for carbon markets , in particular
developing expertise in monitoring and reporting emissions. The
Government believes that there are many lessons from the development
and operation of the European Emissions Trading System that can
be shared and in particular the importance of monitoring and reporting
emissions in order to reduce energy demand.
The recent fall in carbon prices reflects reduced
demand for allowances as a result of lower economic output. The
environmental impact of the trading system—the cap—remains
unchanged but the price drop means that it is easier for business
to comply with the system during the recession. The Government's
view is that this demonstrates the market's responsiveness to
changed economic conditions providing further lessons for both
the EU and China in developing and designing future policy in
this area.
In terms of broader cooperation, the UK is providing
£800 million to the international Climate Investment
Funds to help countries shift onto low carbon, climate resilient
development pathways. These funds are being administered by the
World Bank, and the governance structure ensures equal representation
of developed and developing countries. The largest of these funds,
the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), is designed to support rapidly
industrialising countries in scaling up the deployment of low
carbon and renewable energy technologies. China is one of the
eight developing countries on the Trust Fund Committee of the
CTF, and the UK would welcome a bid from China to access this
new and additional source of funding.
13. What is the EU doing to help build institutional
capacity in China to mitigate green house gas emissions at the
national and provincial levels, as well as to enhance climate
change modelling and research?
The EU is providing substantial support to China
on both mitigation and adaptation. This includes capacity building
in a number of sectors including, monitoring reporting and verification
of emissions, renewable energy, low-carbon buildings, sectoral
crediting, emission trading schemes and development of provincial
climate change programmes. There are also examples of technology
cooperation including through the 7th Research Framework Programme,
Near Zero Emissions Coal Initiative (NZEC) and in renewable energy
and energy efficiency.
14. With the change of administration in the
United States, are there any opportunities for trilateral EU-China-USA
cooperation on climate change?
In March 2009 President Obama established
the Major Economies Forum (MEF). The MEF brings together all of
the major economies including China, US and EU for a series of
discussions in preparation for the Copenhagen summit in December
2009. The Government welcomes the MEF as an important forum for
further discussions amongst all major economies, including China,
in preparation for the negotiations at Copenhagen.
The first preparatory meeting for the MEF took
place on 27 April. Our Secretary of State Ed Miliband attended.
This was a very successful meeting which discussed, in particular,
low carbon technologies and mitigation. The discussion around
the table was open and extremely helpful.
7 May 2009
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