The potential threats stemming from global climate change is something that countries across the world are considering — China is now the latest to publish a comprehensive look at what pitfalls might await it due to global warming and how it can work around those challenges. According to The Wall Street Journal, this new plan covers a number of initiatives the country wants to put into action by 2020 to fight the effects of climate change. It's not dissimilar to the climate change executive order President Obama released last month. That order called upon agencies like the Department of Defense, EPA, and NOAA to create plans of their own; China's plan has already been signed off by the ministries of finance, housing, transportation, water, agriculture and forestry.

At a high level, the report calls for improvements to early-warning systems for natural disasters, greater protection of nature and wildlife, better farming practices, and improvements to China's infrastructure.There's also a few more creative measures included in the proposal, including extreme weather insurance like "catastrophe bonds" and weather index-based insurance. The latter provides insurance when weather variables, like rainfall, reach certain pre-determined levels — it's often used by small farmers in developing countries to protect against inadequate crops and financial difficulties stemming from low rainfall.