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Climate change
OpinionComment
Rizwan Basir
Rizwan Basir

Macroscope | China-Saudi energy research is cold comfort to poor nations seeking climate justice

  • Neither country included mitigation of oil use or carbon offsets in their energy cooperation
  • Until research is turned into action, talking up the cooperation as addressing climate change just shows how ‘climate injustices’ can be greenwashed into ‘climate ambition’

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Chinese President Xi Jinping is greeted by Saudi princes and officials as he arrives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 7. Photo: EPA-EFE/Xinhua
Rizwan Basir

Last month, China and Saudi Arabia – two of the world’s largest carbon emitters – laid down the weakest of green foundations to a partnership otherwise inundated with red flags for the climate.

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Years of deepening ties between the world’s largest importer and exporter of oil culminated in a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Riyadh last month, where several agreements spawned a “new era” in China-Arab partnership. In effect, the epoch is poised to maintain the stability of oil flows between the two countries – ultimately ensuring the uninterrupted acceleration and scale-up of oil production, distribution and consumption.

After coal, oil is the second highest source of global carbon emissions, with China the second highest greenhouse gas emitter from its use. In 2021, China imported US$43.9 billion worth of oil from the kingdom and its oil-based emissions of carbon dioxide rose to 1.71 billion tonnes. Chinese customs data for the first 10 months of 2022 alone shows US$55.5 billion worth of oil imports from Saudi Arabia.

To put these figures in perspective, at the COP27 UN climate conference last November, poor countries witnessed the failure, again, of rich countries – including China and Saudi Arabia – in meeting the climate financing target of US$100 billion a year.
On the emissions front, current global commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even if delivered in full, would still mean a rise in the global temperature of about 2.5 degrees Celsius, a level that would condemn the developing world to a calamitous climate breakdown, according to the UN’s climate agency.
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The latest China-Arab partnership would only pollute the planet further – ultimately amplifying the catastrophes for countries at risk. Surely China and Saudi Arabia cannot be oblivious to the horrors that these deals might instigate.

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