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Agence France-Presse

The world’s biggest polluter China has a “big job” ahead of it in the global fight against climate change, the UN’s environment chief said on Wednesday.
Since US President Donald Trump’s decision in June to quit the Paris agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Beijing has proclaimed its willingness to stick to the pact.
Analysts say the US move gives China an opportunity to establish its credibility and strengthen its diplomatic clout ahead of future negotiations.
US officially pulls out of UN’s Paris climate deal
Beijing has repeatedly pledged to reduce its reliance on carbon-belching coal as it seeks to clear the toxic smog from its cities.
But it has also invested heavily in coal projects abroad as part of its belt and road infrastructure initiative, prompting accusations it is exporting its pollution to poorer and less developed countries.

Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, said the world was in a “transformative phase” from coal to renewable energy, and Beijing had a vital role to play.
As well as its number one position as a source of pollution, China is also the world’s biggest investor in renewable energy such as solar and wind power.
Its coal consumption has fallen for the past three years, and earlier this year it reportedly cancelled more than 100 coal power projects.
South Asia may be too hot to live in by 2100 due to climate change: scientists
But China still relies on the fuel for 62 per cent of its primary energy mix.
“China has a very big job ahead of it to transform fundamentally from coal into these very promising new technologies,” Solheim said.
German environmental group Urgewald estimates that around 250 Chinese companies are involved in nearly half the 1,600 new coal power projects planned or being built worldwide, including in countries such as Pakistan and Egypt which currently burn almost no coal.
Solheim warned that “locking yourself into this old-fashioned technology is very dangerous”, as it would make them heavily dependent on fossil fuel for decades with serious environmental and health risks.

Trump “clearly made a mistake” in withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, said Solheim, who was in Seoul for meetings with South Korean officials and businesses.
But the consequences of Trump’s decision were “limited”, Solheim insisted, adding it had only “energised the entire environment community” including America’s big businesses such as Apple, Google and Microsoft.
“They do that for their customers and for the environment. They don’t do it for the White House,” he said.
Are falling levels of PM2.5 creating new ozone air pollution woes in Beijing area?
The Paris climate accord was signed last year by 175 countries and went into effect in November, just days before Trump was elected – having vowed on the campaign trail to back out of it.
The Paris accord aims to limit global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.


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As Indonesia faces ‘second tsunami’ after Sumatra floods, is Jakarta’s response enough?

How Hong Kong can distinguish itself as a climate finance hub

Chinese desalination plant makes fresh water cheaper than tap water – plus green hydrogen

Climate change

UN environment chief urges China to do more on climate

Researchers on a Finnish icebreaker watch the sun set over sea ice floating in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago last month. Sea ice plays an important role in the global climate system by cooling the surrounding water and air. Photo: AP

Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, speaks during an interview with AFP in Seoul on August 9, 2017. The world's biggest polluter China has a "big job" ahead of it in the global fight against climate change, the UN's environment chief said. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2014, file photo, vehicles negotiate heavily flooded streets as rain falls in Miami Beach, Fla. Certain neighborhoods regularly experience flooding during heavy rains and extreme high tides. Directly contradicting President Donald Trump, a draft report produced by 13 federal agencies concludes that the United States is already feeling the negative impacts of climate change, with a stark increase in the frequency of heat waves and other extreme weather events over the last four decades. The assessment said global temperatures will continue to rise without steep reductions in burning fossil fuels, with increasingly negative impacts. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

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Erik Solheim says Beijing has a vital role as the world moves from coal to renewable energy


UN environment chief urges China to do more on climate

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Erik Solheim says Beijing has a vital role as the world moves from coal to renewable energy

Erik Solheim says Beijing has a vital role as the world moves from coal to renewable energy