China should bind itself to
international climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, one of the
country’s most prominent policy advisers recently announced, in a break from
Beijing’s official stance, Reuters
reports.

Hu Angang, a public policy
professor at Tsinghua University, warned that his country needs to act or global
climate change talks could be doomed. Hu recently argued that if China vows to
cut industry emissions, the nation could emerge an economic and diplomatic
winner in the race to solve global warming.

"It’s in China’s own
interest to accept greenhouse gas emissions goals, not just in the international
interest," Hu told Reuters in an interview. "China is a developing country, but
it’s a very special one, with the biggest population, high energy use and sooner
or later, if not now, the biggest total greenhouse gas emissions. So this is a
common battlefront we must join."

Hu offers climate solutions
in the Chinese-language Journal of Contemporary Asia-Pacific Studies, stating
China’s greenhouse gas pollution would continue rising until about 2020 while
the country continues to develop. The nation would then cut emissions by 2030 to
1990 levels, then again reducing them to half that by 2050.

"Unless we become one of
the biggest green contributors, we will be one of the biggest victims of global
warming," Hu said.