World Bank shares green path with China(2)

This is the second time Kim has visited China as the head of the World Bank and the visit is mainly focused on carbon emission reductions and China's urbanization push. He will meet with Premier Li Keqiang, a strong advocate of urbanization, and witness the signing of a memorandum on climate change with the Chinese government.

Last year, China and the World Bank signed an agreement on launching an urbanization report, which covered issues including environmental protection and is expected to be launched in December, Kim said.

China vows to push forward urbanization, and an estimated 300 million people may move to urban areas over the next 20 years.

Pan Jiahua, director of the Institute of Urban and Environment Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said urbanization is more than the expansion of city size and should feature highly efficient, green and low-carbon development.

Lu Dadao, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said green urbanization is not an option, but "imperative" in China.

China's annual economic growth slowed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter, down from 7.7 percent during the January-March period.

Despite the slowdown, the government has been persistent in advancing reforms including financial and fiscal reforms and social programs, saying it is high time to implement the transformation.

"Achieving sustainable and clean growth is a big part of the goal. It links directly to a fundamental challenge in our fight against poverty — climate change," Kim said.

But it's not easy to strike a balance between growth and environment, he said.

China is the "largest contributor" to global greenhouse gas emissions by volume, accounting for almost 30 percent of global emissions, he said.

To tackle environmental problems, China is committed to reducing its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels and is aiming to increase renewable energy to 15 percent of its total energy consumption by 2020 from 8 percent in 2011.