China scientists appalled at Australia's waste
Updated
Scientists from China have slammed Australia's greenhouse gas reduction target, saying it goes nowhere near far enough.
They say no country has done more than China to reduce its emissions, and they're shocked at Australia's wasteful use of energy.
Presenter: Dana Robertson from Australia Network
Speaker: Jiahua Pan, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
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DANA ROBERTSON: Too many cars, big energy-hungry houses and wasteful street lighting. On their first visit to Australia, Chinese scientists are shocked at what they've found.
JIAHUA PAN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES: You can see that there's huge waste of energies here.
DANA ROBERTSON: The deputy director of Beijing's Academy of Social Sciences says if his countrymen knew more about the Australian way of living they might be less willing to act on climate change themselves. But, as it stands, Professor Pan says China's leading the world.
PROFESSOR PAN: I think that no any other country in the world has made comparable efforts to the Chinese in emission reductions.
DANA ROBERTSON: And he's not impressed with Australia's aim of a 5 to 15 per cent cut on its year 2000 emissions by 2020.
PROFESSOR PAN: Australian target is insufficient.
DANA ROBERTSON: In that criticism he's not alone. Australian government scientists have broken ranks to dismiss the target as much weaker than what's required. But despite China's apparent annoyance with Australia's approach, Australian negotiators are still optimistic about this year's UN climate conference in Copenhagen. They say China and Australia are both part of a small group of countries working closely together behind the scenes.
But for China a political deal is nowhere near enough. It wants developed countries to commit to serious emissions cuts.
PROFESSOR PAN: If we have a political agreement that would not be enough at all. because we need to go step forward.
