BEIJING, Oct 29 (Reuters) - China will consider controls on the greenhouse gas emissions of its worst polluting industries if the rich world will hand over clean technology to keep poorer nations competitive, a senior policymaker said on Wednesday. Xie Zhenhua, China's top climate change official, gave Beijing's first nod of approval to this "sectoral approach" to containing industrial emissions at the launch of a policy paper on how the country plans to tackle global warming. Chinese officials have previously denounced the "sectoral approach" as a scheme for rich, high-tech nations to gain a competitive edge by imposing extra costs on rising challengers in sectors, such as steel, concrete and power. But Beijing is pushing rich nations to transfer more pollution-cutting technology to poorer nations undergoing emissions-intensive industrialisation, and Xie suggested a focus on polluting industries could satisfy both sides. "China believes that using a sectoral approach is an important measure for implementing emissions reductions in every country. We can decide this for industries with high emissions levels and then transform the technology that these industries use to cut emissions," Xie told a news conference. "But in whose hands is this technology? Most of it is in the hands of developed nations. If ... they take this technology and give it to developing nations, it will without a doubt be able to resolve a large amount of the greenhouse gas emission problem." Varying proposals for a sectoral approach to curbing emissions involve setting fixed caps, broader reduction guidelines or incentive systems for firms. Xie did not delve into such specifics or say which industries could be targeted. But he stressed that up to a quarter of the country's emissions bill came from manufacturing goods for export, and urged consumer nations to shoulder some responsibility for this pollution. "Because we are at the low end of the industrial chain, transferred emissions from goods manufactured from exports stand at between 14.5 percent and 24 percent of the total." "We are footing other people's bills," added Xie, who is vice-chairman of the energy and climate-change policy making National Development and Reform Commission. Xie said he would like rich nations to spend the equivalent of 0.7 percent of their economy each year on funding cleaner technology to help poor countries skip the dirtiest phase of industrialisation and urbanisation. He cited the complicated transformers and bearings used in wind turbines as an example of a key technology that could help China rapidly expand an already booming sector that makes a clear contribution to cutting emissions. Xie also said it was important for companies to be on board, and any transfer system to be market-based, perhaps anticipating the response of governments who say they cannot hand over the technology of companies that they do not own. (Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Ben Tan)
A woman looks for scrap rubber for recycling in suburban Shanghai October 28, 2008. A Chinese leader called for improved rights for women and children on Tuesday, denouncing "social evils" that ...
