Paris deal opportunity for companies in China: EU Chamber

The Paris Agreement is welcomed as clear signal to EU businesses in China to scale up innovation and investment in climate solutions, said European Chamber.

Joerg Wuttke, European Chamber President, said this during a media roundtable on Thursday.

"While it provides the basic structure for the new climate change regime, which we recognize China played a key role in building, this is just the start."

Wuttke said the chamber strongly encourage the relevant Chinese government agencies to closely engage with the business community at large in order to facilitate successful implementation.

The climate deal was approved on December 13th, when 195 nations agreed to keep global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to drive efforts to limit temperatures even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The deal sets the course for a transformation of the world's fossil-fuel-driven economy into one that is low-carbon, resilient and sustainable, said the chamber.

According to Massimiliano Varrucciu, chair of the European Chamber's Carbon Market Working Group, European companies with advanced expertise and technology are also ready and committed to helping China deliver on the pledges it has made.

"This can only happen if they are afforded greater market access," he said.

"In terms of China's carbon market, the Paris Agreement also offers an opportunity to promote fairness, openness and transparency."

Earlier this year, the European Chamber successfully applied for observer status at the climate negotiations, and subsequently elected to send a delegation of two of its member companies to attend the Paris summit.