Australia’s carbon reduction targets are insufficient to reverse severe climate change, Chinese experts warned, urging wealthy nations to rein in their “wasteful and luxurious” lifestyles.

Media reports on April 15 quoted Pan Jiahua from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as saying that the Chinese government would not push for an approach based on per capita emissions at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen this December, but might argue it be included in post-Copenhagen negotiations.

Delegates from 200 countries will meet to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen. A shrinking global economy had experts worrying that an agreement could not be reached. But recent news from the United States that it may establish a carbon scheme has improved the chances of an agreement being reached.

 

China’s engagement on the discussion is promising, experts told the press, as the involvement of large middle income nations like China and India is critical. China is the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter after the United States. India is ranked fourth. Australia is the highest per capital emitter.

Pan told the press that Australia’s target of 5 to 15 percent emissions reduction on 2000 levels by 2020 was “certainly insufficient,” when compared with targets set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“This would set a very bad example for the developing countries,” he said.

Pan also said that Beijing might agree to a voluntary cut in emissions at Copenhagen.