At the invitation of U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the Leaders’ Climate Summit in Beijing on the evening of the 22nd and delivered an important speech entitled “Building a Community of Human and Natural Life Together.” In their speeches, Chinese leaders called for “adherence to multilateralism” and “adherence to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities” to create a favourable atmosphere for the upcoming 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Glasgow Climate Conference, CNN and other foreign media reported.
“It’s big news.”
President Xi Jinping’s speech at the leaders’ climate summit drew attention from the mainstream Western media.
The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, The Independent and Sky News all reported for the first time. At the leaders’ climate summit, Xi said China would strictly control coal-fired power projects, with coal consumption growth under the 14th Five-Year Plan period and a gradual reduction in the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Reuters reported.
China reaffirmed its commitment to “strive to achieve carbon-to-peak by 2030 and carbon-neutral by 2060”, and stressed that it will “strictly control coal-fired power projects” while supporting some local and industrial enterprises to “take the lead in reaching the peak,” according to a statement on the UN’s official website. According to the analysis, China’s carbon neutral commitment will reduce global temperature rise by 0.2 to 0.3 degrees Celsius.
Alden Meyer, the U.S. director of the Center for International Climate Politics, said it was big news. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore also said China has a good history of “planning and executing plans.” Gore called the leaders’ climate summit “exciting and important” and said the world had crossed a political threshold on climate issues.
Yoav Yayil, dean of the School of Sustainable Development at israel’s Helzlya Interdisciplinary Research Center, said China has made positive progress in developing new energy sources in recent years and has been impressive in effectively curbing environmental pollution through environmental legislation and regulatory mechanisms. The New York Times writes that China supplies many of the key components of solar panels, including more than 80 percent of the world’s polysilicon, the raw material most solar panels use to absorb solar energy.
“China has been doing a good job in green technology, not only in terms of domestic attention and implementation, in manufacturing, but also in exporting related technologies to the world.” Ricky Melzian, director of climate and energy programs at the Australian Institute, an independent public policy think-tank, believes that working together to tackle climate change will help stem the rise in extreme weather and promote new economic development based on green and low carbon.
“Climate is everything.”
April 22nd coincides with the 52nd World Earth Day.
Speaking at the leaders’ climate summit, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the climate crisis had reached a point where it was urgent. Guterres revealed that the world’s temperatures have risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius in the hottest decade on record and are “fast approaching the threshold of disaster”.
To draw attention to climate issues, the cover of the April 26 issue of Time magazine used the work of Red Hong Yi, a Malaysian female artist. A map of the world of 50,000 matches, with some already lit matches, reflects how the climate crisis affects all of humanity. “Climate is everything,” the times’ cover headline reads.
Simon Kuznets, a Nobel laureate in economics, warned in the 1960s: “The difference between quantity and quality, cost and return must be kept in mind.” “In 2018, a United Nations report warns that disaster is imminent if the world does not accelerate its shift to a low-carbon economy.
Over the past two years, under the influence of climate change, the forests of California, Amazon, Australia, Siberia and other places have experienced long-lasting wildfires. Since last year, climate change has been the focus of discussion at numerous “cloud conferences”. The outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic triggered a profound rethinking of the relationship between man and nature, and the future of global climate governance received more attention.
China has never been absent
China has never been absent from tackling global climate change. Just six days before the leaders’ climate summit, President Xi Jinping held a video summit with the leaders of France and Germany, the third time the leaders of China, France and Germany have met together since the March 2019 Paris meeting and the December 2020 video meeting. One of the most talked about topics among the leaders of the three major countries is how to work together to tackle climate change.
Multilateralism is the only way to deal with global climate change. “China looks forward to working with the international community, including the United States, to advance global environmental governance.” The Financial Times reports that China welcomes the US return to multilateral climate governance.
At the leaders’ climate summit, Xi called for “adherence to multilateralism” and “adherence to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities,” CNBC reported. CNN national security correspondent Kelly Atwood also followed the Chinese leader’s call for multilateralism in his speech.
China has also done its best to help developing countries improve their capacity to cope with climate change through various forms of South-South pragmatic cooperation. From climate remote sensing satellites in Africa, to low-carbon demonstration zones in Southeast Asia, to energy-saving lamps in small island countries, The results of China’s South-South cooperation in addressing climate change are visible, tangible and effective. China has also made cooperation in the field of ecological civilization a key element in building the Belt and Road Initiative, launched a series of green action initiatives, adopted a series of initiatives such as green infrastructure, green energy, green transportation and green finance, and continued to benefit all the peoples involved in building the Belt and Road Initiative.
China, together with the United Nations and the United States, the European Union and other countries and regions in the north of the world, will help African and Pacific island countries plagued by poverty and climate vulnerability build climate mitigation and resilience, and actively propose constructive proposals in the institutional design, allocation of funds and mechanism optimization for new South-South climate cooperation, so as to give China a voice and contribute China’s wisdom to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, said Yu Li, an associate professor at the School of International Development and Global Agriculture at the Agricultural University of China. It will be a success for the international community in its response to the global climate crisis.
As a responsible power, China has shown the world its determination to protect the environment and address climate change, which will undoubtedly strengthen the confidence of the international community to jointly address climate change, said Anri Sharapov, an associate professor at the National School of Oriental Studies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
