China says Europe must take ‘positive action’ on climate change

Name: Villager fishes in drying pools at China’s biggest freshwater lake
Uploaded: 2022-09-22T11:06:31.000Z
Duration: 2 min 15 s
Description: Villager fishes in drying pools at China’s biggest freshwater lake

Chinese leader climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua tells his German counterpart Jennifer Morgan that he hopes the European ‘backswing’ towards coal is temporary

Western countries have stepped up their coal consumption to offset disruption to gas supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

2-MIN READ2-MIN

China recently suspended climate cooperation with the US in protest at Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Photo: AFP

Reuters

Published: 7:06pm, 22 Sep 2022

Europe and other developed countries must take “positive action” to implement climate change goals as geopolitical uncertainties threaten to undermine their efforts, China’s top climate envoy has told his German counterpart.

Xie Zhenhua, who leads China’s climate negotiations, told Germany’s special climate envoy Jennifer Morgan via video link late on Wednesday that global climate governance was currently facing “multiple challenges and uncertainties”.

“The climate policies of some European countries have shown a ‘backswing’, and it is hoped that this is just a temporary stopgap,” he said, according to a summary of the meeting released by China’s environment ministry.

As Western countries raise coal consumption to offset gas supply disruptions brought about by the conflict in Ukraine, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement this month that its own green and low-carbon development path remained firm – “in contrast with the European Union”.

02:15

Villager fishes in drying pools at China’s biggest freshwater lake

Europe has insisted the rise in coal use is only a temporary measure that will have no long-term impact on the EU target to cut emissions by 55 per cent from 1990 to 2030.