China offered to cut back its greenhouse gas output for the first time ever at the recent Copenhagen climate change conference, and the United States made concessions to China and other developing countries.

The “Copenhagen Accord” suggests that countries agree to cooperate to reduce carbon dioxide and other climate-changing emissions to try to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Farenheit. Talks wrapped up on Saturday without a legally binding accord.

Chinese Premier Wen Jaibao’s attendance at the global climate change talks show that China is taking responsibility for its own people and for the world, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told Xinhua News Agency after the conference.

China has pledged to reduce its “carbon intensity” by 40 to 45 percent. “Carbon intensity” is the use of fossil fuel per unit of economic output. Other countries such as India and Brazil also said they would limit pollution on a voluntary basis.

One goal of the conference was to lower global emissions by 50 percent by 2050. However, that text was dropped from the declaration — a move widely seen as a U.S. concession to China and other developing countries. Developing countries are expected to report their mitigation efforts to the international community.

The final agreement was called a “meaningful breakthrough” by international leaders. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, U.S. President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown all sounded positive notes about the climate change agreement.

The Copenhagen Accord is “a major step forward,” said Francs Siboneite, chair of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit group.

“All the major economies have made their commitments to control global greenhouse gas emissions and report mitigation actions clearly at first time,” Siboneite said.

The agreement spells out 12 specific items, with a plan for richer countries to finance a $10 billion-per-year, three-year program to fund poorer countries’ projects to deal with drought and other climate-change impacts. The money also is to go toward developing more “clean” energy outputs.

Of the 193 participating countries, 188 voted in favor of the accord and five countries voted against it. The conference was hosted by the United Nations. Its general assembly of member nations plans to write more details into the accord before February, conference organizers said.

Translated by Min Cheng
Edited by Kelly (Wenyan) Xu