Sharing of burden key for Poland gathering

Developed economies should bear in mind the philosophy of “being strict with ourselves and lenient toward others” as they make plans to head to Poland for the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, a senior official said.

Li Gao, director-general of climate change, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, made the comment during a news conference on Wednesday in Beijing.

The main task of the climate conference this year, which will be held in Katowice, Poland, from Dec 2 to 14, is to complete negotiations over the detailed rules to implement the Paris Agreement, which aims for a long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C above preindustrial levels, said Li.

Li said the detailed rule for the implementation should be drafted based on the core principle of fairness as well as differentiated responsibilities. There is huge gap between the capability of developed and developing countries. The capability of different countries and their national conditions should be taken into consideration.

“If we fail to adhere to this principle, it will be difficult to reach consensus. This is very important,” he said.

In previous negotiations, some developed countries raised very detailed requirements for developing countries in reducing greenhouse emissions. Actually, it’s not that developing countries don’t want to offer the information demanded by the developed countries, but they are capacity-constrained in doing so, he said.

It seems that developed countries employ different standards when they respond to developing countries’ requirements for tackling climate change, he said.

“Traditional Chinese culture teaches us that we should be strict with ourselves and lenient toward others. We found in previous negotiations that some developed countries carry a very different philosophy in that they are lenient with themselves but strict toward others. This hinders us in reaching consensus,” said Li.

Many developing countries have to depend on funds from developed countries to realize their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or the goal of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions published by countries that signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change before the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference.

“Funding is always a core issue in negotiations over climate change. It’s a core concern as it is actually related to whether or not developing countries will be able to have adequate capability to contribute more in tackling climate change. We hope developed countries will offer sufficient and effective financial support for developing countries,” Li said.

He also said developed countries should proactively respond to developing countries’ concerns over transparency of their financial support.