China’s Renewed Support for Paris Agreement

• 24 Sep 2020

Why in News

Recently, China has renewed its support for the Paris Agreement at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, while calling for a ‘green focus’ as the world recovers from the Covid-19 crisis.

Key Points

• China is the world's biggest polluter and accounts for a quarter of the planet's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• It now aims to reach carbon-dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
  
  • The 2060 objective is still a decade later than the date set by other small states as well as European powers but it has been appreciated by experts as a significant step to inject momentum into the Paris accord.
• In addition to its embrace of global emissions-busting deals, China already feeds nearly 15% of its energy demands with non-fossil fuels and its installation of renewable energy stands at 30% of the world total.
• However, global experts have highlighted that there are massive investments continuing within China and overseas in coal and other fossil fuels.
  
  • China currently has 135 gigawatts of coal-power capacity either permitted or under construction, according to Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based environmental group.
  • This equates to about half the total coal-power capacity in the USA which is the second-largest polluter after China.
• Against the USA:
  
  • China highlighted USA’s demand for plastics and export of waste and criticised it for “obstructing” the global fight against emissions.
    
    • Earlier, the USA had pulled out of the Paris agreement, calling it unfair and blamed China for the stalled momentum on tackling global emissions.
  • This move has opened a new divergence in US-China relations which are already troubled over issues like trade, technology, defence and human rights.

Paris Agreement

• Paris Agreement (also known as the Conference of Parties 21 or COP 21) is a landmark environmental accord that was adopted in 2015 to address climate change and its negative impacts.
  
  • It replaced the Kyoto Protocol which was an earlier agreement to deal with climate change.
• Aims: To reduce global GHG emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase in this century to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing means to limit the increase to 1.5°C by 2100.
• It includes:
  
  • Addressing the financial losses vulnerable countries face from climate impacts such as extreme weather.
  • Raising money to help developing countries adapt to climate change and transition to clean energy.
  • This part of the deal has been made non-legally binding on developed countries.
• Before the conference started, more than 180 countries had submitted pledges to cut their carbon emissions (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs).
  
  • The INDCs were recognised under the agreement, but are not legally binding.
  • India also reaffirmed its INDCs commitments to meeting the goals under the Agreement in order to combat the climate change.

Source: TH