Nation vows climate change assistance for developing countries

The Chinese government has set aside 700 million yuan ($100 million) since 2011 to help other developing countries confront climate change, China’s top climate change official said.

The assistance was mainly through energysaving and low-carbon projects and organizing related construction activities, Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative on Climate Change Affairs, said at the High Level Forum on SouthSouth Cooperation on Climate Change during the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Xie noted that China has been implementing the national strategy to confront climate change, promoting and leading the construction of a fair and cooperative global climate governance system, and showing it is a responsible big country.

“I’m so proud of South-South cooperation, but we have to convince others that the cooperation is good, not just for the countries that receive it, but for the world as a whole,” Jorge Chediek, secretary-general’s envoy for South-South Cooperation and Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Xie said that China will continue to provide financial, technical assistance and capability building for the least-developed countries, small island countries and African countries based on the South-South Cooperation framework.

Xie also urged the parties to reach an agreement in Katowice conference and implement the Paris Agreement based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities.

The event was co-hosted at the China Pavilion on Wednesday by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, in cooperation with the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University, and World Wide Fund for Nature.