With China announcing its first concrete target to cut emissions, world leaders gathered at a United Nations climate summit on Wednesday said they are getting more serious about fighting climate change and the deadly extreme weather that comes with it.
In a video address, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the world’s largest carbon-polluting country would aim to cut emissions by seven to 10 per cent by 2035.
China produces more than 31 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and they have long been soaring.
The detailed target marked the first time China has pledged to reduce emissions, but the reduction was far less than the 30 per cent cut by 2035 that some scientists had said was needed to align China with the globally agreed goal to limit warming to 1.5 C.
The announcement came as more than 100 world leaders gathered to talk of increased urgency and the need for stronger efforts to curb the spewing of heat-trapping gases.
With major international climate negotiations in Brazil 6½ weeks away, UN secretary general António Guterres convened a special leaders’ summit Wednesday during the General Assembly to focus on specific plans to curb emissions from coal, oil and natural gas.
After more than six hours of speeches, promises and announcements, about 100 nations — responsible for about two-thirds of the world’s emissions — gave plans or some kind of commitments to further curb fossil fuel emissions and fight climate change, deputy secretary general Amina J. Mohammed said.
Xi pledged that China would increase its wind and solar power sixfold from 2020 levels, make pollution-free vehicles mainstream and “basically establish a climate adaptive society.”
Europe then followed with a less detailed and not quite official new climate change fighting plan. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said last week that its member states agreed their emissions cutting targets would range between 66 and 72 per cent. The EU will formally submit its plan before the November negotiations.
While the new promises are moving in the right direction and show stronger commitment to fighting climate change, “these targets will not be enough to keep us safe from climate destruction,” said Jake Schmidt, senior strategic director for international climate at the Natural Resources Defence Council.
The UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, said the Chinese plan “is a clear signal that the future global economy will run on clean energy. And that for every country, stronger and faster climate action means more economic growth, jobs, affordable and secure energy, cleaner air and better health, for all of us, everywhere.”
But others were underwhelmed.Â
“China’s latest climate target is too timid given the country’s extraordinary record on clean energy,” said former Colombia president Juan Manuel Santos, chair of the group The Elders. “China must go further and faster.”
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said in a statement that the contribution China has submitted “falls well short of what we believe is both achievable and necessary. This level of ambition is clearly disappointing, and given China’s immense footprint, it makes reaching the world’s climate goals significantly more challenging.”
Trump’s climate comments challenged
Xi and Brazil’s leader also made statements on Wednesday afternoon that may have referred to U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks a day earlier on renewable energy and the concept of climate change.
“While some countries are acting against it, the international community should stay focused on the right direction,” Xi said.
U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed climate change during his address to the United Nations General Assembly as the ‘greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.’
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is hosting the upcoming climate conference, said, “no one is safe from the effect of climate change.”Â
“Walls at borders will not stop droughts or storms,” Lula said. “Nature does not bow down to bombs or warships. No country stands above another.”
In a news conference, Lula said he invited both Trump and Xi to the November climate negotiations, saying it’s important that leaders listen to scientists.
UN needs pledges by end of month
Under the 2015 Paris climate accord, 195 nations are supposed to submit new more stringent five-year plans on how to curb carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
UNÂ officials said countries really need to get their plans in by the end of the month so the UNÂ can calculate how much more warming Earth is on track for if nations do what they promise. Former U.S. president Joe Biden submitted America’s plan late last year before leaving office, but the Trump administration has distanced itself from the plan.
Before 2015, the world was on path for 4 CÂ of warming since pre-industrial times, but now has trimmed that to 2.6 C, Guterres said.
However, the Paris accord set a goal of limiting warming to 1.5 CÂ since the mid-19th century, and the world has already warmed about 1.3 C since.
