Air pollution at Yantai in northeastern Shandong province of China
Beijing: China today scoffed at US President Joe Biden’s statement at COP26 where, referring to climate change, he accused Beijing of just walking away from “a gigantic issue”, and said tackling climate change requires “concrete action, not empty words”.
Claiming that its actions on climate change are “real”, China’s foreign office pointed out that the country adds about 12,000 hectares of forest area and 90,000 kW of installed photovoltaic capacity on average per day. “We are building a batch of large-scale wind and PV projects with a total size of nearly 30 million kW,” Chinese foreign office spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters here.
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On the question of why China decided not to join the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions announced at COP26 yesterday, Wenbin contended that when setting ambitious targets, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that developing countries generally have weak basic data and lack monitoring technologies and effective measures to control non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases. He though was quick to add that China attaches high importance to the control of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases.
Wenbin pointed out that the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development explicitly stated that China will increase efforts to control methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and other greenhouse gases. “Relevant departments are formulating and implementing policies and measures in the fields of industry, agriculture and waste disposal. China is ready to work with other parties to advance global cooperation on reducing non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases,” he said.
Continuing to attack the US, Wenbin said successful governance relies on solid action and actions speak louder than words. “China and the US made joint efforts to promote the conclusion of the Paris Agreement, but later the US withdrawal disrupted global climate governance and the full and effective implementation of the agreement. The Chinese side welcomed the return of the US with a constructive attitude together with the international community. We hope that the US side will earnestly shoulder its due responsibilities, come up with and implement specific policies and measures on emissions reduction as soon as possible, honor its funding commitments, and stop chopping and changing all the time,” he said.
As COP26 President Alok Sharma released the Climate Finance Delivery Plan, reiterating the $100 billion annual climate finance commitment developed countries made to developing countries, a target that was never realized throughout the past decade, Wenbin said with COP26 underway, developed countries should demonstrate good faith in combating climate change”. He called upon developed countries to take bolder actions to improve the quality of the $100 billion per year climate finance that they pledged to provide to developing countries, and contribute their fair share to the fight against climate change and global climate governance.
“In the face of climate change, a common challenge for mankind and an unprecedented difficulty in global climate governance, the international community should take on its responsibility and make concerted efforts to seek harmonious coexistence of man and Nature,” Wenbin said.
– global bihari bureau
