For the climate to change for the better, the country will use as much clean energy as possible and curb the use of fossil fuels, which is largely behind global warming.

Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological Administration, makes a point at a press conference in Beijing yesterday. [China Daily]

The message was delivered by the country's top weather official at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office yesterday in Beijing.

In the first official response to the landmark United Nations report on climate change released last week, Qin Dahe, chief of the China Meteorological Administration, said the country takes the climate issue very seriously and is counteracting the problem.

"The assessment report has gripped the attention of the government, the public and scientists in China," Qin said, adding President Hu Jintao had said climate change is not just an environmental issue but is also linked to development.

Qin is co-chair of the Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which issued a grim report last Friday in Paris warning that human activity is almost certainly behind global warming.

The report's "best estimate" of temperatures rising by up to 4 C this century would cause more droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels, Qin said, citing the UN panel.

Qin conceded China's energy is heavily dependent on coal, which emits carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas blamed for climate change.

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