Reuters reported on Tuesday that senior official He Jiankin, chairman of China’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told a conference in Beijing that an absolute cap on emissions would be included in China’s next five-year plan starting in 2016.
The statement comes the day after US President Barrack Obama announced the most significant American measure to cut emissions - a reduction of greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants of 30 per cent by 2030.
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. On recent data China’s annual emissions are now almost double the next largest polluter, the United States, having soared 50 per cent since 2005.
While the absolute cap would start in two years, Mr He was reported as saying that China’s emissions would not peak until 2030 at about 11 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide – up from the 9.8 billion tonnes recorded in 2012.
Until now China’s emissions targets have been expressed as a reduction of the carbon intensity of its economy - in effect allowing emissions to continue to grow, but at a slower rate.
"The government will use two ways to control CO2 emissions in the next five-year plan, by intensity and an absolute cap,’’ Mr He was reported to have said by Reuters.
Australian National University climate economist Frank Jotzo attended the conference in Beijing where the remarks were made. He said without hard details on what the cap would look like then its value at this point was largely symbolic as China was now apparently prepared to take on a type of target it had previously insisted was only for developed countries.
Dr Jotzo said the comments about an absolute cap and national emissions trading fit with the kinds of discussions being had by officials in Beijing on climate and resources, such as whether China's growth in coal consumption would peak before 2020.
Dr Jotzo added it was clear there was talks behind the scenes between the United States and China on climate, a big difference when compared to the last time the world tried to sign a new global climate treaty at the troubled Copenhagen negotiations in 2009.
Climate Institute chief executive John Connor said the Chinese announcement was significant and it appeared China and the US were involved in a dialogue on climate change.
Mr Connor said the steps in China and US showed the Australia government, which plans to become the first country to repeal carbon pricing laws, was moving in the wrong direction on climate change. He said with the two superpowers moving to put caps and limits on their emissions, neither country would look kindly on countries seeking to remove them.
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