COP27: China calls for UN climate summit to address concerns of developing nations
- Chinese climate official says ‘empty slogans are not ambition’ and the conference should focus on implementation, adaptation and finance
- He says COP27, to be held in Egypt next month, should push for targets to be translated into ‘effective policies, solid action and concrete projects’
Li Gao, director of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s climate change department, said China looked forward to working with all parties to make COP27 a success, calling for it to focus on implementation, adaptation and finance – issues that are of most interest to developing countries.
COP27 will be held in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6 to 18. Egypt aims to make the summit an “implementation COP” by emphasising action and scaling up support for climate adaptation.
The conference’s key targets include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, making significant progress on climate finance and ensuring adequate representation and participation from all stakeholders, according to Egypt’s COP27 presidency.
Li told reporters in Beijing all parties should stick to the “common but differentiated responsibilities” principle – based on a country’s circumstances. He said they should also stick to the goal of limiting global temperature rises to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century, while pursuing efforts to limit rises to 1.5 degrees.
Li said most countries had submitted their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – or their targets to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions – but the more important thing was to put them into action.
“COP27 should advocate for the translation of the proposed NDCs into effective policies, solid action and concrete projects, rather than rushing to propose new targets,” he said.