Noting that as countries were pushing ahead with their national agendas to combat climate change more intensely than setting international obligations, China was leading in combating the problem domestically, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has said.
Figueres pointed out that Beijing had 'outperformed' the climate goal set in its 11th fifth year plan and was already designing climate legislation for the 12th plan to include clear targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
"There is no doubt the historic performance China has had on the 11th five year plan," Figueres told journalists during a press conference in Bonn, which was webcast live.
"They have not just performed to the level of their target but they have outperformed and it is well to think they will out perform again," she added.
Two weeks ahead of the annual meet on climate change, to be held in Cancun, Mexico, the UN climate chief observed that there is 'optimism for the planet' since countries are taking climate change seriously at home.
Besides China, the top UN official referred to small countries like Maldives and Costa Rica that had taken a pledge of carbon neutrality and were designing national mitigation action plans.
These plans, she said, 'would help them achieve that neutrality by the second decade'.
At the same time, Figueres noted that political differences and the inability to compromise were blocking progress on the international stage.
"Climate is a global problem and ultimately can only have an ultimate global solution," Figueres
said, noting that the agreement reached on biodiversity in Nagoya indicated that multilateral forums could be successful.
"Cancun will be a success, if Parties compromise," she added.
The contentious climate meeting, last year, yielded the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which called for limiting rise of global temperature to 2 degrees, $100 billion in long term finance to developing countries and $30 billion to short-term finance to the poorest and most vulnerable countries.
Figueres said that Cancun needed to end with a 'balanced set of decisions' in areas such as forestry, financing, mitigation and technology.
"The Cancun agreement must also address the mitigation efforts of industrialised countries as well as those developing countries that have already put mitigation intents on the table," the UN official said.
"Cancun must also come to some resolution about what the continuation of Kyoto Protocol is going to be because that clearly affects the form of the mitigation commitments of those counties under the Kyoto Protocol," she added.
The Kyoto Protocol is the only treaty on climate change, which puts legally binding obligations on industrialised country.
Developing countries are always suspicious that developed countries are trying to weaken or abandon the treaty.
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Noting that as countries were pushing ahead with their national agendas to combat climate change more intensely than setting international obligations, China was leading in combating the problem domestically, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has said.