World energy body praises China for tackling climate change

LONDON - The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Monday praised China for its role in getting the world back on track to tackle the dangers of climate change.

"The most encouraging thing I find in the current five-year plan of the Chinese government is the energy intensity improvement target, and the push for renewable energies including hydropower," Fatih Birol, author of the agency's new report "Re-drawing the Energy Climate Map" launched in London, told Xinhua.

"China has understood that it has to deal with the energy sector in a serious way, not only because it is a key member of the international community, but for the sake of their own economic wellbeing and the sake of their own citizen's wellbeing," he added.

Birol pointed out that the great achievement of 2012 for China was that its emissions growth was halved compared to 2011.

This is among the lowest rises in a decade, and marks the increasing effectiveness of policies designed to cut emissions and to improve energy efficiency.

Birol said if he needs one word to describe China's performance in 2012, "I would use 'super'," he added.

"We need to see this super action continued and accelerated, not just to tackle the global climate problem but for the good of the Chinese people because it also reduces the pollution in Chinese cities. It also helps the economy to be much more efficient," he said.