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Beijing Review Exclusive
Special> UN Climate Change Conference 2014> Beijing Review Exclusive
UPDATED: December 20, 2014 NO. 52 DECEMBER 25, 2014
An Arduous Tug of War
As climate change's effects intensify, nations inch toward a common emissions reduction target
By Deng Yaqing
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WAR OF THE WORDS: A high-level meeting of the UN Climate Change Conference opens in Lima, Peru, on December 9 (RONG HAO)

"The conference achieved an acceptable but not satisfying result," Xie said, admitting that the agreement was in line with China's expectations but also left unresolved issues to the Paris conference.

One point of contention is that rich countries insist the pledges should focus on efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions, and try to force emerging economies such as China and India into the emissions reduction system.

Nicholas Stern, Chair of the London-based Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, argued that developed countries should take greater responsibility for problems arising from climate change, as they now possess more wealth and emitted more greenhouse gases in the past than developing countries.

As developed countries have gradually moved many industries to the developing world by virtue of their advantageous position in terms of global economy, politics and power, carbon emissions have also been transferred to these emerging economies. "The developed world is historically accountable for global warming," said Zou Ji, Deputy Director of China's National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

Beyond that, developed and developing countries should take distinctive responsibilities because they are at different developmental stages. While carbon emissions in developed countries mainly come from consumption, construction and transportation, productive consumption is the primary emission source in developing countries. "The developed world has finished industrialization, while the developing world is still in the middle of it," Zou said.

"The gap between developed and developing countries is still considerably wide. Economic growth, social development and poverty reduction remain the primary tasks of developing nations," Xie said, suggesting that developed countries should act on the principles and regulations of the UNFCCC and continue to take the lead in reducing emissions while providing necessary capital, technology and capacity building support to developing countries.

However, developed countries have resisted calls for more robust financial support. According to the UNFCCC, developed countries should fulfill the obligations of providing sufficient funding to developing countries to cope with climate change. The funding negotiations, including those for technology transfer, however, have made little progress over the past two decades.

In December 2013, the UN launched the Green Climate Fund, which aims at helping developing countries tackle climate change, in Seoul, the Republic of Korea's capital. The pledges to the program amounted to a mere $10.2 billion at the Lima conference, far less than the 2020 target of $100 billion. Moreover, there is no clear roadmap for how to achieve the ambitious goal.

"Developed countries should honor their commitments and shoulder their responsibilities under the UNFCCC to offer more supports to developing countries in terms of mitigation, finance, technology and capability building," Xie said.

China's efforts

According to the China-U.S. joint announcement on climate change, the United States has set a target of reducing its emissions by 26 to 28 percent below its 2005 level in 2025, while China has pledged to achieve a peak of carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 and increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20 percent by 2030.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the China-U.S. joint announcement will exert a significant influence on negotiations and actions concerning climate change and create a useful model for solving problems regarding the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Christiana Figueres also believes the commitments of China and the United States are a significant political impetus to the Lima conference. The China-U.S. Joint Announcement alone cannot solve the climate change problem, but without it, solving the problem will be completely impossible, Figueres said.

According to statistics from China's Policies and Actions on Climate Change (2014) report released on November 25, as of 2013, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of per-capita GDP had been reduced by 28.56 percent from 2005; and in the first three quarters this year, China's energy consumption intensity and carbon intensity further dropped by 4.6 percent and 5 percent year on year, respectively. In 2013, a total of 6.1 million hectares of forest and 2.52 billion trees were planted, surpassing the target for the year.

According to World Bank estimates, from 1990 to 2010, China's energy-conserving efforts accounted for 58 percent of the world's total energy efficiency. Moreover, the country's installed capacity of renewable energy has accounted for 24 percent of the world's total, and its newly installed renewable energy capacity made up 37 percent of the global total in 2013, according to the NDRC.

From 2011 to 2013, China provided an annual financial support of $10 million for developing countries to enhance their capacity to deal with climate change. At the UN Climate Summit held in September, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, announced that China would double its assistance and establish the South-South Cooperation Fund in 2015.

Since 2011, China has invested a total of 270 million yuan ($43.99 million) in assisting developing countries' efforts to address climate change and trained nearly 2,000 climate change officials and professionals from developing countries, according to statistics from the NDRC.

Xie noted that China will not jockey for the financial assistance provided by the Green Climate Fund with its "poor brothers," and will instead help them to receive more money from the fund through South-South cooperation.

Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner said that the establishment of the South-South Cooperation Fund will invigorate cooperation between developing countries on tackling climate change.

Developing countries need to carry out pragmatic cooperation, as well as technological and knowledge sharing so that correct decisions can be made in dealing with climate change. However, in this aspect, what has been done for them by developed countries is far from sufficient, said Egyptian Minster of Environment Khaled Mohamed Fahmy Abdel Aal.

"China has not only made its contribution to the fight against climate changes, but also helped many less developed countries through South-South cooperation," he added.

Email us at: dengyaqing@bjreview.com

Results of the Lima Conference

Although the language of the final version of the Lima agreement is much weaker than many nations expected, the elements of the 2015 Paris agreement have been further detailed, laying a foundation for the draft of agreement drawn up next year.

A consensus was reached to further push forward the talks on Durban Platform for enhanced action after 2020, and the Principles of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities will be further defined and reinforced in the 2015 Paris agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

What climate pledges for the Paris agreement should contain was first laid out, providing a reference for countries to put forward their post-2020 action targets before the Paris conference.

Arrangements were made to facilitate the implementation of the Bali Roadmap before 2020.

Developed countries have pledged an amount of more than $10 billion for the Green Climate Fund.

Basic Proposals

Brazil, South Africa, India and China, known as "BASIC countries," laid out their positions on the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change during the negotiations in Lima, Peru, as follows:

First, the agreement should stick to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the equality principle and the respective capabilities principle.

Second, the scope of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) should encompass mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capability building.

Third, the pre-assessment of INDCs in 2015 will distract the attention on negotiations, and then affect the conclusion of the Paris agreement.

Fourth, efforts should be made to realize the negotiation results of the Bali Roadmap, enable the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to take effect, and make plain the timetable and roadmap of raising $100 billion as of 2020.

Fifth, the Paris agreement should reflect the issues of concerns of all parties in a balanced and comprehensive way, and all the countries should strive to work out proper solutions through multilateral negotiations.

(Compiled by Beijing Review)

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