BEIJING (Reuters) - China will make "controlling greenhouse gas emissions" an important part of its development plans, the government said, blaming climate change for increasingly frequent weather disasters.
China is now widely considered to be the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases from human activity stoking global warming, and it has faced continued pressure from other governments to set firm goals for eventually curbing emissions.
The broad goals were spelt out at a government meeting on climate change on Wednesday chaired by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Chinese newspapers reported on Thursday, and they come while Beijing is at the heart of negotiations seeking a new global pact to fight climate change.
"Make controlling greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change an important basis for setting the medium- and long-term development strategies and plans of government at every level," said the summary of the meeting issued by the official Xinhua news agency.
The meeting said that global warming was undoubtedly causing increasingly frequent "extreme weather events," as well as melting glaciers and threatening water supplies.
The report did not specify any specific targets for restricting the country's emissions.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills)
