Joint action gives climate talks new impetus

China and the United States underline their commitment to do more

China and the United States have made a major joint announcement on climate action, with significant climate finance commitments and plans for action in each country that will inject new political energy into United Nations climate change talks in Paris that begin at the end of next month.

China said in the statement issued in Washington on Sept 25 that it plans to set up a national emissions trading system in 2017 that will cover power generation, steel, cement and other key industrial sectors, and implement a system that favors low-carbon sources in the electricity grid.

China said it will make available 20 billion yuan ($3.1 billion; 2.8 billion euros) to set up the South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change, to support other developing countries as they tackle the problem, and the US reaffirmed a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund.

"China has fully integrated addressing climate change into the country's overall strategy of economic and social development," President Xi Jinping said at a working luncheon on climate change in New York on Sept 27.

China is willing to continue to take on responsibilities commensurate with its national conditions and regards coping with climate change as an important opportunity for transforming the way it grows, he said.

The luncheon was hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss climate change with leaders from about 30 countries, including President Ollanta Humala of Peru, which hosted a climate change conference last year, and President Francois Hollande of France.

Xi said the Paris agreement will allow the world to look for direction for green, low-carbon growth. The climate talks should abide by the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities", he said, and developed countries should fulfill a commitment to provide $100 billion in climate finance annually by 2020 and transfer climate-friendly technologies to developing countries.

Wael Hmaidan, director of the Climate Action Network, a grouping of more than 950 nongovernmental organizations worldwide, said the luncheon and the US-China announcement have made it increasingly clear that world leaders are starting to agree on action on climate change and decarbonizing the economy, which could provide the foundation for a new agreement on climate change in December.

China and the US, as the two largest carbon emitters and the two largest economies, have a responsibility to work together to minimize the risks posed by climate change, he said.

Yang Fuqiang, an adviser on climate change, energy and environment at the National Resources Defense Council in the US, said climate change has become an issue on which China and the US can work together.

The announcement in Washington marked a step forward after a deal between Xi and President Barack Obama in November when the US president was in Beijing. China pledged to cap carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 and endeavor to cap them earlier.

Henry Paulson, chairman of the Paulson Institute and a former US Treasury secretary, said: "Last year the two countries committed to working together on these issues; today China, in particular, put meat on the bones of that announcement."

The joint announcement is a cornerstone for an ambitious climate agreement in Paris, said Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the research organization the World Resources Institute.

On Sept 24, Pope Francis called for more effort to avert the most serious effects of environmental deterioration caused by human activity.

"The prospects for a global climate agreement have brightened," Steer said. "Combined with inspirational messages from the pope, businesses and governments, we're edging closer to a strong outcome in Paris."

China has launched pilot projects for carbon trading in locations that include Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjin and in Hubei and Guangdong provinces.

China is making it clear to businesses and investors that it is shifting to a low-carbon economy by committing at the highest level to a national carbon trading program, Steer said.

Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, said China's move to put a price on carbon will create the world's largest carbon market, sending an unmistakable signal to businesses, other countries, regions and cities worldwide. Carbon pricing is not a panacea but a necessary step to speed up low-carbon growth and resilient development, he said.

"I hope the announcements by the world's two leading powers will send a strong signal to the rest of the world, paving the way for a truly ambitious deal on climate change in Paris."

China's commitment to inject $3.1 billion into the South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change is encouraging and will increase the confidence of developing countries about dealing with climate change, he said.

Developed countries have pledged to give $100 billion a year to help developing countries deal with climate change, but exactly which measures will be taken remains unclear.

China's commitment on funds is critical, Greenovation Hub, a local environmental NGO, said in a report.

Wang Binbin, manager of the climate change and poverty team with Oxfam Hong Kong, said pledges China and the US have made are encouraging. However, countries are still not doing enough on climate change, he said, and through consensus they need to come up with more ambitious plans in Paris to direct the world onto a path of low-carbon growth.

On Sept 25, South Africa submitted its national climate plan to the UN, becoming one of the last major economies to make such a pledge before the Paris summit. In its plan, South Africa has pledged that its emissions will peak between 2020 and 2025.

More than 70 countries have now delivered national plans to the UN. In late June, China submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change proposals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was in Paris in June he announced the nation's ambitious targets for cutting energy consumption per unit of economic output by 60 percent to 65 percent from its 2005 level.

The talks in Paris beginning on Nov 30 aim to seek a global deal to curb global warming, which scientists say needs to be limited to 2 C to avoid the most devastating consequences in the form of drought and rising sea levels.

But UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said the pledges that countries have made are insufficient, because adopting them would cap global warming at 3 C.

lanlan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 10/01/2015 page25)