China pledges action on climate change

In a speech at Climate Change Week at the UN headquarters in New York, where around 100 leaders are gathered, China's President Hu Jintao fell short of setting targets on greenhouse gas emission reductions, but promised the country would invest in green energy and curb its carbon emissions per unit of Gross Domestic Product – a measure also known as carbon intensity – by a "notable margin" by 2020.

"China fully appreciates the importance and urgency of addressing climate change," said President Hu.

The pledge came after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the largest summit of climate change ever to be convened that action had to be taken now. “Climate change is the pre-eminent geopolitical and economic issue of the 21st century,” he stressed. “It rewrites the global equation for development, peace and security [...] All countries must act – now."

President Hu's speech has increased hopes that a meaningful agreement can still be secured in Copenhagen. With under 80 days to go before the global summit, concerns have been growing that progress has been too slow in the lead up to Copenhagen to secure an ambitious new agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions that would go into effect in 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period expires.

However, not everyone felt China had gone far enough today.

US President Barack Obama's climate change envoy Todd Stern told Reuters news agency that President's Hu's pledge was helpful but Beijing needed to provide figures. "It depends on what the number is," he said.

"It was a bit disappointing that China did not give a number for greenhouse gas intensity. I had expected it to come now," Knut Alfsen, head of research at the Centre for International Climate and Energy Research in Oslo, also told Reuters. 

There was also criticism that although strong on rhetoric, a speech made by US President Barack Obama at the summit today was short on substance.

Obama said the security and stability of each nation and all peoples were in jeopardy. and "the time we have to reverse this tide is running out."

But speaking to The Guardian, Friends of the Earth's senior international climate campaigner Asad Rehman, said:  "Barack Obama's speech was deeply disappointing – it was a huge missed opportunity which does nothing to break the logjam in international climate negotiations."

Nick Mabey, head of London-based E3G think tank, meanwhile, told Reuters: "It was a very disappointing speech from Obama [...] The clear thing was that at this summit there is a massive gap between when leaders talk about the problem and the ability to move to solutions.There was a spirit of renewed realism but I think Obama will come under a lot of pressure to raise this up his personal agenda. Tomorrow, Prime Minister Gordon Brown will address the New York summit.Today, a communiqué signed by 500 business leaders from around the world was delivered to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and distributed to more than 100 heads of state and governments attending the summit calling for world leaders to agree a credible deal on climate change in Copenhagen in December.