Climate change issues heat up China-US consultations

"The United States pioneered the creation of wind energy, solar technology, but the application of technology has been far behind, the great opportunity to cede to other countries!"　　"It was a very impassioned testimony by senior U.S. Senator John Kerry in the Senate's Environmental and Public Affairs Committee October 27."　　From October 27 to 29th, the Senate reopened its review of the Obama administration's climate-change bill. The U.S. Clean Energy and Safety Act was passed in the House of Representatives in June.　　The White House hopes the bill will be approved by the Senate before the U.N. Climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.　　Obama will visit China in the middle of this month, and climate change will be the priority in the agenda of the talks between the two sides.　　In fact, many countries and regions, including the European Union, are also watching closely for the voices of the two presidents on climate change issues. Aware of the seriousness of climate change Mr Obama is now eager to make a difference. Teya Smith, senior researcher at the "Energy and Climate project" of the renowned Chi Carnegie Peace Research Institute in Washington, said that Obama was so interested in climate change, not just because of his interest in it In order to make it different from the predecessor and to remain in history.　　More important, Mr Obama has become aware of the seriousness of the problem and the need to include a "global effort" within the United States. Teya Smith, a former deputy director of the US Treasury Secretariat, argues that the United States is often accused of "a lack of willingness to assume responsibility for climate change". Now that the Copenhagen climate change summit is imminent, it is in the fundamental interests of the United States to deal with many of the issues involved in the negotiations.　　If we continue to take an aloof approach, America will be at a disadvantage in the future world.　　Therefore, under the strong domestic resistance, Obama pushed "clean energy and security in the United States", on the one hand, hope that the United States in the world energy saving and emission reduction in the forefront of technology and competitiveness, but also to the world: the United States to focus on climate change, the need for global cooperation, willing to　　Emissions reduction and trade protection linked to "carbon tariffs" directly against Chinese goods in the Senate before the bill, some lawmakers called for a number of similar "carbon tariffs" of the "China clause", that is, China and other "emissions-compliant" countries to U.S. exports of goods levied "carbon tariffs." Teya Smith that the introduction of the "China clause" into U.S. domestic law is a common practice in Congress to "quell domestic concerns". Many American industry insiders who are affected by the bill believe that if the United States takes the lead in implementing energy-saving and emission-reduction legislation in the country, it will greatly increase production costs and "Chinese goods" will have a greater impact on the US market. This negative view is more in the market, in the context of the financial crisis, recession and rising unemployment.　　In order to quell this concern, the Senate joined the "China clause" to ensure that "the United States will not profit from it even if it is enacted." She believes that China's concerns and objections to the move are easy to understand. However, China'sAttitude is not the crux of the matter.　　The most serious problem is that a similar "China clause" itself releases a very bad signal: protectionism. "I personally believe in free trade and believe that the United States needs to compete to maintain its dynamism and leadership," she said. "The imposition of carbon tariffs on imports means opening the door to protectionism."　　Once this door is open, it is hard to shut down. New technology development to make enterprise profitable technology transfer is the key to Low-cost applications Teya that, aside from these "political resistance", China and the United States in fact have a lot of cooperation in climate change and energy conservation areas. "Climate change," she said, "should be integrated into both domestic and international situations."　　"To put it another way, not only to strengthen communication in the global negotiations on climate change, but also to strengthen cooperation in the application of new technologies in the country," he said. She noted that the Chinese side had been asking the developed countries to carry out the relevant technology transfer requirements. She thought it necessary. Now, many large U.S. companies, including GE, Honeywell, and allied technology, have been transferring technology to China, such as "Energy efficiency audit Software". The advantages of environmental protection technology, not only the United States, the European Union, China also has. China has the world's most advanced technology in the fields of solar, wind and clean coal.　　This is also the reason for the dynamism of technical cooperation between China and the United States.　　The key to technology transfer, she argues, is not whether technology is cutting-edge, but how to reduce the cost of application of new technologies, and how to quickly get the public to understand and accept it-people often prefer to choose the things they are familiar with.　　Teya also stressed that incentives for the development and use of new environmental technologies cannot be entirely dependent on government policy support. The companies that develop and use these new technologies, she says, must be seen as a broad, long-term profit-making space. Only in this way, the new environmental protection technology innovation is alive. By 2030, 86% of the world's technological innovations will come from private companies, according to the United Nations research report.　　If we do not solve this fundamental problem, China and the United States will not be able to achieve a real transformation of economic growth patterns. The global energy-saving and emission reduction has come to a critical juncture the efforts of the two countries are getting a lot of attention Teya that the EU has taken a step forward in tackling climate change and the US is just on the road. As in the United States and China, people are just beginning to become familiar with this new thing.　　More time is needed to get more people to understand their urgency. She believes that, like China, the United States urgently needs to ensure its domestic economic growth before assuming its responsibilities. Both countries need to ensure a balance at home: both for economic growth and for climate change. This will require both sides to strengthen cooperation in relevant areas. The EU has succeeded in arousing countries ' attention to the issue of climate change. But the development of this business has come to the fore without the participation of the United States and China. It is clear that without more active participation by China and the United States (including greater accountability), the countries of the world will not be able to achieve a true sense ofClimate change agreement. In her view, China has actually become one of the leading countries in this field, whether or not she prefers it. China has so far made a lot of positive efforts to prove to the world its concern and commitment to climate change.　　The world is looking at China's efforts with a positive eye. WASHINGTON, November 2 (Xinhua)