China's highest leadership Tuesday began considering proposals from the country's senior researchers in an attempt to help achieve the country's ambitious goal of cutting carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020.

The move is a sign that China will roll out more economic and industrial policies to tackle climate change this year when drawing up the development roadmap for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

The political bureau of the CPC Central Committee has raised climate change as their study topic for the second time during the past two years. The leadership usually holds study meetings every one or two months.

At the study meeting in Beijing, President Hu Jintao said China is committed to fighting climate change, and the leadership will be working hard to mobilize efforts to realize the goal, which China came up with shortly before the Copenhagen summit.

Ever since November 26 last year, when China pledged to cut carbon intensity by 40 percent to 45 percent (from 2005 levels) before 2020, China's leaders, especially Premier Wen Jiabao, have been involved in intensive diplomatic efforts, including wide-ranging telephone talks with world leaders, to move forward the Copenhagen agenda.

However, some countries, including Britain, have accused China of obstructing December's Copenhagen climate summit, which ended with a non-binding accord that set a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 C, but was scant on details.

"We must fully recognize the importance, urgency and difficulty of dealing with climate change," Hu said in an address to other high-ranking leaders after listening to lectures by Pan Jiahua, senior researcher with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Xu Huaqing, director of the Energy Research Institute affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission.

"We must make it an important strategy for our socio-economic development," Hu said.

Energy saving, emissions cuts and environmental awareness must be inculcated into not only every government worker, but Chinese society as a whole, Hu said.