China wants climate deal - un chief

UN: China’s leaders told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Beijing wants to reach a new agreement on combating climate change in Copenhagen in December, Ban said on Wednesday.

“I was pleased that President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao assured me that China wants to seal a deal in Copenhagen in December and that China will play an active and constructive role in the negotiations,” Ban told a monthly news conference.

The U.N. chief returned on Tuesday from official visits to China and Mongolia at which climate change topped the agenda.

China recently passed the United States as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and together the two countries account for 42 percent of the world’s emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions are widely considered to be one of the principal causes of global warming. Nations will gather in Copenhagen in December to work out a new agreement on reducing emissions to succeed the current Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012. Climate concerns are expected to be high on the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama visits China for a summit meeting with Hu later this year.

Ban said more than 100 heads of state and government were planning to attend the September summit, intended to help build momentum before the Copenhagen conference.

He said it would be “the largest gathering of leaders on climate change ever.” NewYork, Reuters