China’s role ‘critical’ if world is to meet climate change targets
- Without further Chinese progress away from coal, Paris Agreement goals cannot be delivered, UN environment agency warns
- China has invested more than any other country in renewable energy, but its investments in fossil fuels have also risen
China has invested more than any other country in renewable energy – committing US$758 billion between 2010 and the first half of 2019 – but failed the environment by burning more coal, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The agency, headquartered in Nairobi, said Beijing had also ramped up its investments in fossil fuel – burning about half of the coal used globally – making it the world’s largest producer of coal power.
UNEP warned that continued production of coal would derail the world from achieving the goal set by the Paris Agreement of keeping global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
According to UNEP, China’s annual carbon emissions nearly tripled in the past two decades and currently account for about one-third of the world’s total.
UNEP climate change coordinator Niklas Hagelberg said China’s emissions per gross domestic product (GDP) had decreased but total emissions were still rising. He said unless global greenhouse gas emissions fell by 7.6 per cent each year between 2020 and 2030, the temperature target may be a pipe-dream with catastrophic effects on the planet.