China, France make ‘historic’ step forward on climate change
Print Edition
CHINA and France yesterday agreed that an international deal to tackle climate change to be negotiated in Paris should include checks on compliance, in what visiting French President Francois Hollande called a “historic” step forward.
The Paris conference will be attended by at least 80 world leaders, including President Xi Jinping and United States President Barack Obama.
It seeks to unite nations in a single agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping warming at 2 degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Signatories’ progress should be reviewed every five years, China and France said in a joint statement, to “reinforce mutual confidence and promote efficient implementation.”
“The Paris accord must send a clear signal for the world to engage in a transition towards green, low-carbon development that is sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change,” it said.
The two also reiterated that the deal should be legally binding — something that China had already agreed to in its submission in June to the conference.
In that document, China said also that checks on compliance should be “non-intrusive, non-punitive and respecting national sovereignty.”
China will be a key player at the event, which opens on November 30, in the face of disputes over whether developed or developing countries should bear more of the burden for reducing emissions.
The joint declaration acknowledged the issue, saying that “flexibility should be offered to developing countries who should require it, according to their capacities.”
Hollande said the statement was a “major step” toward an agreement in Paris, where China was “necessary, indispensable” for success.
“We have set up conditions which open the way to success and I am minded to believe that an agreement is now possible,” he said.
“The conditions were laid in Beijing today, it will be said. This visit is historic. And I am weighing my words.”
Hollande said earlier it was “exceptionally important ... for the international community to know whether [China] is capable of assuming its responsibilities” when it comes to reducing its large carbon footprint.
President Xi said that China was making “unceasing efforts” in the fight against climate change, and would carry on working to ensure that a deal was reached in Paris.
China promised last year that carbon dioxide emissions would peak “by around 2030”.
China says economic uncertainty means it cannot set a precise date for when it will begin reducing emissions. It calls on developed countries to take the lead on cuts.
It also has ambitious targets to increase its use of non-fossil fuels.
In addition to preparatory talks for the UN summit, a series of cooperation and trade deals was announced.
Xi said he hoped Sino-French ties would “achieve a rich and varied development.”
The French president’s trip comes soon after a similar visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in China last week, and after Xi visited both Britain and the US in the past two months.
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