It has been announced three days ago that Wen Jiabao, Chinese Prime Minister will attend the Copenhagen UN summit between 7-18 December, to negotiate with policy makers from other countries for the issue of the climate change. The Copenhagen talks, as media predict, will take over the Kyoto Protocol and create a new CO2 reduction commitment internationally.

As the largest emitter of CO2 in the world, China should take the responsibility to clean away the gloomy mood globally before the Copenhagen summit, and contribute to the final achievement of the new "Kyoto Protocol". However, China cannot sacrifice its economic growth to achieve the so called CO2 reduction target, so Beijing currently just makes the CO2 reduction pledge in 2050. But the climate change simulation model shows that it is too late to avoid the disastrous tragedy, which is conducted by China energy research institute, Tsinghua University and the State council development research center. Additionally, the simulation suggests that China could make such reduction commitment in 2030-2040.

The declaration by the Chinese government on 26 November shows that China will take initiative to combat the climate change with other countries in the world. China says that the carbon intensity (the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of GDP), will be reduced by 40-45 per cent by the year 2020, compared with the level in 2005. International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that this announcement made by the Chinese government means that China will assume a quarter of the total reduction emission for the world.

Then, why does China prefer the way of carbon intensity? As China is projected to develop with high pace, its economy, by no means, needs numerous fossil fuels. Although carbon intensity will be reduced by 40-45 per cent by China, it does not mean that China's overall levels of CO2 will fall simultaneously. China still has to wait until its CO2 emission peak reaches.

In contrast with the common strategy used by most countries by taking clear reduction emissions, China creates a new way to resolve the environmental problem, which is designed to balance the environmental commitment with economic growth.

After this declaration, China's pressure to CO2 emission will be eased. As US reduces by 17%, EU reduces by 20% by 2020. It is time for China to announce to the world how it would take this responsibility.

Second, it avoids the direct commitment to the CO2 reduction, but rooms are still left for China to make contributions. IEA predicts that China's indirect commitment will be realized only if 400 billion US dollars are invested in the energy industry.

Furthermore, it follows the right track for China since it need more efficient development way, which saves energy, protects the environment, tends to be sustainable.