AIESEC, an international youth organization, held a mock United Nations climate change conference in Beijing, November 27-29. The purpose of the event was to raise young people's voices for the UN's upcoming Copenhagen summit.

 

More than 300 university students from all over China participated in this Global Climate Change Youth Congress (GCCYC) at Renmin University, with more than 20 guests invited to speak about climate change.

Students participating in GCCYC take on the role of diplomatic delegates from various countries and debate for legislation. At this conference, students debated 20 topics regarding climate change.

They were divided into four GCCYC committees: "Financial crisis and climate change," "Climate change and the development of clean energy," "International cooperation at climate change," and "The responsibility of enterprises facing climate change."

The conference also included four panels of experts and environmentalists to thoroughly discuss topics with the students.

Premier Wen Jiabao announced on November 26 that China is going to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40-45 percent compared with 2005 levels, which gained wide attention at the conference.

Zhang Ruiying, program director of Buildings, which is under the wing of The Energy Foundation, said, "It's a very ambitious target. China is a developing country, and we need to make hard efforts to achieve it."