China is taking the fight against climate change seriously and young people need to get actively involved, speakers told the 2010 International Youth Summit on Energy and Climate Change taking place at the Shanghai Expo.

The UN Pavilion Commissioner General Awni Behnam speaks at youth summit on climate change. [Wang Ke/China.org.cn]

Commissioner of the UN Pavilion at the Expo, General Awni Behnam, said climate change affects society at all levels.

"We must acknowledge the fact that climate change is not an environmental issue alone; it is a human issue, a development issue," he said.

Climate change impacts all aspects of development; economic, social, cultural, health, infrastructure, energy, poverty reduction, and sustainability, he added.

"I'm happy to see that so many Chinese young people voluntarily take their responsibility and work with students and teenagers from other counties. The future belongs to you."

He Jiankun, director of Tsinghua University's Low-Carbon Energy Lab, said that China plans to increase the proportion of primary energy generated from renewable sources to 15 percent by 2020, up from 5 percent in 2005.

He said the International Youth Summit is sending a clear and strong signal that China wants to work closely with other countries in the fight against climate change.

Young people in Asia are increasingly calling on China, Japan and other major greenhouse gas emitters to step up to the plate and move to a low-carbon economy that would generate new jobs and other opportunities.