ROME, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China is destined to play a major role at the Copenhagen conference on climate change, which opens on Dec. 7, Italian experts told Xinhua in interviews.
Carlo Andrea Bollino, economics professor at Rome's LUISS University, praised China's recent plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions per unit of economic output by 40-45 percent by 2020.
The plan "issued ahead of the Copenhagen summit represents an important sign of opening and commitment by China to reach a global climate deal," he said.
Bollino added that China and the United States may forge a special partnership to tackle climate change since both countries have shared interests in balancing growth and environmental protection.
In his view, however, "no concrete deal on a post-Kyoto agreement will be reached" at the Copenhagen conference.
According to Bollino, a definite post-Kyoto agreement is possible when the United States and China play a major role in the process. "The solution to global warming lies in the dialogue between these two powerful nations and on what they can accomplish together. They will set the future road ahead for all other nations to follow," he predicted.
Stefano Pogutz, an environmental management professor at Bocconi University in Milan, noted that the special bond in climate change issues between China and the United States is demonstrated by both governments' recent increased fundings in green technologies.
"Up till July 2009, China invested 225 billion U.S. dollars to stimulate local green economy, followed by the U.S. government's funding of 95 billion U.S. dollars in the green business," Pogutz said, stressing that China had sailed smoothly during the financial crisis by investing in technology.
"I see a scenario in which emerging economies such as China and India agree to curb CO2 emissions in return for foreign investments in their green economies. The Western world has the right technological know-how to combat climate change and can transfer it," he said.
"We need to bring there our most advanced technologies, which represent a great opportunity for both the emerging and industrialized countries."
Pogutz called on leaders to be united in Copenhagen to actively involve the world's most powerful emerging economies. "In order to make the conference a success and avoid a stalemate in the negotiation process, the demands of China and India must be taken into serious consideration," he said.
