China is preparing its first plan to combat climate change, a senior policy adviser said today.
Zou Ji of the People's University of China in Beijing said the programme will probably set broad goals for emissions from a country that has in the past been belligerent about its responsibility to cut Greenhouse gas output.
The plan is likely to be released this year after at least two years of preparation, Mr Zou said.
The plan showed that China was sharing deepening global alarm that greenhouse gases from factories, power plants and vehicles are lifting average temperatures, Mr Zou said.
"When it's approved and issued it will be China's first official, comprehensive document on climate change," he added.
Last week a UN panel of scientists warned that human activity is almost certainly behind global warming.
The expert group's "best estimate" was that temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees in the 21st century, bringing more droughts, heatwaves and a rising sea levels that could continue for over 1,000 years even if emissions are capped.
China could become world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases by 2009, overtaking the US, the International Energy Agency has forecast.