Europe and the US are concerned that China may soon set a carbon target that marks a step back from its current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

With two weeks remaining until the Copenhagen climate talks, negotiators were hoping the world's biggest emitter would unveil a sufficiently progressive goal to increase momentum in the US and developing nations.
But a wave of recent reports and recommendations about China's likely target have generated fears that a climate deal could be hampered by an overly cautious initial bid.

The government in Beijing has yet to announce a goal. The closest it has come was at the UN summit in September, when the president, Hu Jintao, promised to reduce the carbon intensity of China's economy by a "notable margin" between 2005 and 2020. Carbon intensity is the amount of emissions produced per dollar of economic activity.

Source: The Guardian

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