China says climate change threatens major projects

(Reuters, 3 May 2015) Climate change threatens some of China's most important infrastructure projects, China's top meteorologist warned in a state newspaper, adding the country's rate of warming was higher than the global average.

Zheng Guoguang, head of China's Meteorological Administration, told the weekly newspaper the Study Times that the uptick in recent weather disasters such as floods, typhoons, droughts and heatwaves had a "big connection" to climate change.

Such catastrophes were a threat to big-ticket schemes such as the Three Gorges Dam and a high-altitude railway to Tibet, he said.

"Against the backdrop of the global warming, the risks faced by our large engineering projects have increased," Zheng told the newspaper's latest edition, published on Monday.

"Global warming affects the safety and stability of these big projects, as well as their operations and economic effectiveness, technological standards and engineering methods," he added in the paper, published by the Central Party School, which trains rising officials.

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Reuters, 3 May 2015: China says climate change threatens major projects