Ahead of summit, China, France working on climate deal
France and China said they’re working toward a deal on global warming that would involve all nations revising their targets for slashing pollution every five years, part of an effort to reach an ambitious climate accord in Paris next month.
French President Francois Hollande, who is hosting the next United Nations round of climate talks in December, signed an agreement with his counterpart Xi Jinping of China after a meeting in Beijing on Monday. Hollande said the 21-point deal “lays the conditions for a success” in Paris.
“As a major economy, China is a major emitter but it is also a leader in green technologies,” Hollande said.
The remarks suggest China, the biggest polluter and largest nation classed as a developing economy for the UN talks, is willing to support a mechanism that would ratchet up ambitions for containing global warming in the years following the deal due in Paris. Developing nations traditionally have resisted such a mechanism, focusing instead on how much aid they’ll get from the west for reducing emissions.
Xi said China had to take an ambitious stand in climate talks as part of its growing global role.
Besides pushing for revision clauses, which Hollande said are essential if global warming is to be kept under 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The two leaders in a statement also called for more use of carbon offset trading and renewed measures for financial assistance for developing countries to shift toward renewable energy.
“On the two critical components of the Paris Agreement — long term goals and an ambition mechanism — progress was made but work still needs to be done in order to raise ambition before and during the Paris conference,” Greenpeace said in a statement responding to Hollande’s deal with Xi.
China pledged during a July visit to France by Prime Minister Li Keqiang for its emissions to reach a peak “around” 2030, while making “best efforts” to do so earlier. China has pledged to cut carbon dioxide emitted per dollar of economic output by 60 per cent to 65 per cent from 2005 and to increase the share of energy from renewables and nuclear power to 20 per cent by 2030.
The 28-nation European Union, of which France is a member, pledged a 40 per cent cut in greenhouse gases by 2030 from 1990.