China says developing long-term climate change plan

BEIJING May 20 (Reuters) - China is drafting a long-term plan for climate change that will focus on raising energy efficiency, developing clean-coal technology and expanding carbon-absorbing forests, a top climate policy official said.

Xie Zhenhua, a deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission who steers climate change policy, said the plan would strengthen China's "capacity to enforce international covenants".

"The goal of the national plan is to strive for a double-win of both responding to climate change and also developing the economy," Xie said in the interview with Xinhua news agency, which was published in the official People's Daily on Wednesday.

A global U.N. conference in Copenhagen in December is aiming to agree on a new pact spelling out nations' responsibilities to contain the greenhouse gases from fuels, industry, farming and land clearance that scientists say are dangerously heating the atmosphere.

As the world's biggest emitter of these gases, China faces pressure to begin cutting them soon. But Beijing says it and other developing countries should not be forced to accept mandatory emissions caps to solve a problem caused by wealthy countries over the centuries.

The long-term plan and other energy proposals could be part of Beijing's case to the world that it is serious about combatting climate change -- without needing to take on mandatory caps as part of a new global pact.

"China's steps against climate change will not slow because of the global financial crisis," Xie said. "China's determination to deal with climate change will not falter."

Xie did not disclose any proposed numbers for energy saving or greenhouse gas emissions goals. Nor did he say when the plan would be released or what years it would cover.

China produces about 80 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power stations.

The plan would extend government efforts to raise energy efficiency and curtail emissions, promote renewable energy and clean-coal power and "vigorously expand carbon capture through tree planting and afforestation", said Xie.

China released its first national plan for addressing global warming in 2007. Xie said that the country's next five-year development plan, due to start from 2012, would incorporate climate change policies. (Editing by Nick Macfie)