Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has called on the nation to redouble its efforts to tackle pollution and global warming, according to a statement posted on the government's Web site on Monday. Speaking during a government meeting on energy saving and climate change, Wen said that the country needed to fully grasp the urgency of the task at hand. "We should show more determination and take stronger measures to address this issue in an urgent manner," he said in a statement posted on www.gov.cn.

Rapidly growing China is poised to overtake the United States as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, and Beijing faces rising international calls to accept mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions from factories and vehicles. The statement offered no new policy initiatives but appeared to serve as a reminder that China is serious about trying to reduce its consumption of oil, gas and coal and to rein in the emissions causing global warming.

Wen has spoken previously about the huge challenges China faces as it struggles to meet energy efficiency goals in the face of unbridled economic growth. China's ability to meet its energy saving targets was crucial to ensuring Beijing's credibility and fulfilling the country's responsibilities on the world stage, the statement said.

The government needed to conduct further studies on policies related to climate change, it added. Beijing has said that it aims to reduce emissions of major industrial pollutants by 10 percent and cut the amount of energy used to generate each dollar of national income by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010.

(Planet Ark, 10/07/2007)