China carbon emission targets at risk from trade war with US
- Economic uncertainty makes shift away from fossil fuels harder to achieve, official warns
China, the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases, has warned that its reduction targets are at risk, due to the trade war with the US.
Li Gao, head of the climate change office at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said on Friday the trade war had put China’s coal-reliant economy under heavy pressure.
“External elements, such as the Sino-US trade war, have brought negative impacts and increasing uncertainties to the global economy, which has also made it more difficult for China to tackle climate change,” he said.
China has pledged to bring its emissions to a peak by around 2030 as part of the global effort to curb rising temperatures.
It promised at the end of June it would show the “highest possible ambition” when reviewing its climate policies next year, raising hopes it would include even more stringent targets in its 2021-25 five-year plan.
However, Li, briefing reporters ahead of a United Nations climate summit in New York next month, appeared to pour cold water on the idea that China would be able to significantly accelerate efforts to bring emissions to a peak.