After the failure of last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to deliver a legally binding global agreement on carbon emissions, the world’s countries have been left to come up with their own plans to reduce carbon emissions as much as they want (or don’t want).

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which creates the economic and social policies guiding China’s rapid development, recently announced the launch of an experimental low-carbon program aimed at five provinces and eight cities.

The provinces – Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guangdong, Liaoning and Hubei – and cities – Chongqing, Hangzhou, Guiyang, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Nanchang and Baoding – will research and develop their own low-carbon plans with an emphasis on moving toward lower-carbon industry. The plan will reportedly also focus on promoting low-carbon consumption.

It’s encouraging to see real attention being paid to reducing carbon emissions, but it is impossible to tell at this point what impact this program may have on China’s greenhouse gas emissions.

While China – and the rest of the world – figures out how to deal with its carbon issues, WildChina already offers a way for clients to offset their carbon footprint via our partnership with Climate Action.  To learn more about how to make your travel in China more sustainable by funding clean energy, please visit our introduction to carbon footprint offsets.

Image: Responsible Investor