With the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, pressure is mounting for countries to be clear about their commitments, but Corrado Clini, Italy's director general of the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea, does not think a legal agreement is a suitable option for China.

He instead suggests that the solution lies in shared development of new environmental technologies.

"I am a European. I am a civil servant," Clini said. "So I understand what I am saying is a bit delicate, but I am convinced that we cannot ask China to take a legal commitment. I believe that we have to ask China to work with us in the development of new technologies."

Although Europe is asking the US to decide, in quantified terms, its level of commitment to emission reduction, Clini believes that developing countries such as China should be considered from a different perspective.

The official viewpoint of the European Union is to ask countries for a legal commitment to carbon emission reductions, but Clini says the solution lies in a technological approach for emerging economies.

Clini has worked with China for the past 10 years on environmental projects, specifically the Sino-Italian Collaboration Program for Environmental Protection. The program, launched in 2000 between the Italian and Chinese governments, implemented over 80 projects with Chinese government departments, universities, research institutes and enterprises.

The focus is currently on China's building sector to develop model designs and approaches that will be disseminated throughout the nation, Clini said. One of the most prominent examples is the Sino-Italian Ecological and Energy Efficient Building at Tsinghua University.

"We believe we need to combine economic development with the protection of the environment and to do this, we need technologies," said Clini. "The experience we have in China - and (Tsinghua's) building is a concrete example of this - suggests that China can play a global role in leading carbon emission reductions through development of technologies."

At the Major Economies Meeting this April in Washington DC, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu used the building to demonstrate critical issues in the building sector that countries must address in the future.

Clini sees great progress in China already in its new buildings and infrastructure that use the best technologies in the world. As he tries to describe this development to Europe, Clini also stresses the need for combining economic development with the protection of the environment through joint technology development.

"In China, when we started to work, our Chinese colleagues were not expecting something from us, but they pushed us to work together, so we are involved in a positive approach," said Clini. "It is a real cooperation between two countries with the willingness to do the best to advance."

(China Daily June 22, 2009)