A report by Beijing’s Central University of Finance and Economics says China must increase spending on emission cuts and clean technologies by $373 billion to do its fair share to halt climate change.
It has urged the government to raise money from carbon markets to fund investments.
Reuters Newsagency reports the conclusions contrasted with China’s official policy that the main responsibility for increasing action against climate change rests with developed nations.
China, the world’s biggest-emitting nation, has already pledged to spend $98 billion to help prevent global temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius, according to Dr Chen Bo, co-author of the report.
Reuters reports that is only a fifth of what is needed if China, trailing only the United States on the list of history’s biggest carbon emitters, is to shoulder a proportionate burden in global efforts to stop climate change, the report said.
The main responsibility for finding the extra funds should fall on the government, it said.
“Public funding is essential to address climate change problems, and without a clear signal on CO2 emissions, mitigation projects are not financially attractive to investors,” said the report.
It called on the government to use carbon markets to auction CO2 permits to help raise climate revenue.
Reuters reports over the past seven months, five regional pilot trading schemes have launched in China, with plans to roll out a national market later in the decade.
One of those markets, southern Guangdong, auctions 29 million permits annually to participating firms, but the revenue is not earmarked for climate change spending.
The report, which has been submitted to the State Council, China’s cabinet, said the state-owned China Development Bank should set up a green investment department to stimulate private and public investment in climate-related projects.
It further urged the financial market to develop products and mechanisms to draw further funds.
