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May 5, 2015

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Forecaster in climate change warning

Climate change threatens some of China鈥檚 most important infrastructure projects, a top meteorologist said yesterday, adding that the country鈥檚 rate of warming was higher than the global average.

Zheng Guoguang, head of China鈥檚 Meteorological Administration, told weekly newspaper the Study Times that a recent increase in weather disasters such as floods, typhoons, droughts and heatwaves had a 鈥渂ig connection鈥 to climate change.

Such catastrophes were a threat to schemes such as the Three Gorges Dam and a high-altitude railway to Tibet, he said. 鈥淎gainst the backdrop of the global warming, the risks faced by our large engineering projects have increased,鈥 Zheng told the newspaper.

鈥淕lobal warming affects the safety and stability of these big projects, as well as their operations and economic effectiveness, technological standards and engineering methods,鈥 he said.

China鈥檚 rate of warming was 鈥渁t an obviously higher rate鈥 than the global average, Zheng said. 鈥淭he first decade of this century was the hottest in the past 100 years.鈥

Dealing with climate change was necessary for China to put its economy on a more sustainable growth path, Zheng said. 鈥淐limate change is a lever which can push our country鈥檚 economic transformation.鈥

Coal accounts for about 60 percent of China鈥檚 CO2 emissions, which are causing massive health problems because of the smog they generate.

China, the world鈥檚 biggest emitter of climate-changing greenhouse gases, has sought to shift increasingly to cleaner burning hydrocarbons such as natural gas and to renewable energy.

Last year, China said it would aim to peak its fast-rising emissions by 2030.


 

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