The government is determined to work with global partners to turn the demanding task of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into lucrative business opportunities, a senior official said Tuesday.

Xie Zhenhua, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the country has already forged close partnerships with some developed countries for trading carbon dioxide and methane, the two major GHGs causing global warming.

"China faces arduous tasks in dealing with climate change but the potential for reducing greenhouse gases is tremendous; and so are business opportunities," said Xie, who is also the deputy director of the National Leading Group of Work Responding to Climate Change.

Xie's optimism stems from the fact that nearly half the country's coal mines have a high concentration of methane - most of it discharged as part of mine safety.

"But if technology, capital and environmental protection awareness are combined, we can make coal cleaner, reduce methane emissions and let methane serve as an alternative energy source," Xie told China Daily prior to the Methane to Markets Partnership Conference and Expo which opened yesterday in Beijing with more than 600 participants from 30 countries....