Europe and other developed countries must take “positive action” to implement climate change goals as geopolitical uncertainties threaten to undermine their efforts, Chinese Special Envoy on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua (解振華) told his German counterpart.
Xie told German Special Representative for International Climate Policy Jennifer Morgan via videoconference late on Wednesday that global climate governance was currently facing “multiple challenges and uncertainties.”
“The climate policies of some European countries have shown a backswing, and it is hoped that this is just a temporary stopgap,” a summary of the meeting released by the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment cited Xie as saying.
Photo: AP
BLASTING COAL USE
As Western countries raise coal consumption to offset gas supply disruptions brought about by the conflict in Ukraine, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement this month that its own green and low-carbon development path remained firm — “in contrast with the European Union.”
Europe has said that the rise in coal use is only a temporary measure that would have no long-term impact on the EU target to cut emissions by 55 percent from 1990 to 2030.
China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is expected to focus on the issue of financing at annual UN global climate talks held in November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Xie told the German official that “implementation and action” should be the major theme of the meeting, and said he hoped industrialized countries would quickly meet their pledge under the Paris Agreement to transfer US$100 billion a year in climate funds to developing nations.
After the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last month, China canceled bilateral talks on the climate with the US, raising concerns that the battle against global warming would be undermined by geopolitical tensions.
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