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Nectar Gan

Li Jing

China wants to see a legally binding treaty limiting global warming agreed at UN talks in Paris this month, but says any deal must take into account the different circumstances of participating nations.
Xie Zhenhua, the mainland’s special representative for climate change, said on Thursday that major disagreements had existed between nations at the preparatory meeting held before the summit featuring world leaders from November 30 to 8December 11.
The summit aims to reach an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming and will try to negotiate a deal to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
“The main disagreement lies in how to interpret the term ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’,” Xie, China’s former top climate negotiator, said.
“Currently no country openly opposes the principle … but we hope it can be put into practice in concrete terms, such as a reduction in emissions.”
Read more How China can tip the scales on climate change by ‘taming its coal dragon’, among other measures
The principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”, set out in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992, has long been the major cause of division and impasse at global climate talks.
Developing nations insist that richer countries, which have already completed their own polluting industrial revolution, must shoulder the greater burden for the carbon emission cuts.
But developed nations argue that developing countries, such as China and India, are now major polluters and damaging the global environment with their economic expansion.
Xie’s call for a “legally-binding treaty” suggests China differs with the United States on how countries should enforce the deal, as John Kerry, the US secretary of state, warned against the option last week.
Read more: China’s support on climate change ’essential’, says French President François Hollande
In an interview with the Financial Times, Kerry said the agreement was “definitively not going to be a treaty”.
“When people use the phrase, they could mean different things, and that’s the caveat,” said Li Shuo, a senior climate analyst at Greenpeace East Asia, adding the difference could be a sticking point for the negotiations.
Meanwhile, China yesterday issued its first national standards for accounting and reporting greenhouse gas emissions in 10 key industries, including power generation, steel, chemical engineering and cement.
The rules will take effect from June next year.
Yang Minghan, a deputy director at the country’s standardisation administration, said all carbon emissions from industrial plants, even from dining halls and shower rooms, would be accounted for. Emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur hexafluoride and nitrous oxide would also be calculated.
The standards will lay the ground for a national carbon trade market, expected by 2017.
 


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Paris climate summit 2015

China pushes for legally binding emissions limit at Paris climate change summit

Beijing wants developed nations to face a greater burden for future carbon emission cuts than China and other developing nations. Photo: AFP

This photo taken on December 22, 2014 shows smoke rising in the air from a power plant near Hengshui in China's Hebei province. China has for years been hit by heavy air pollution, caused by enormous use of coal to generate electricity to power a booming economy, and by more vehicles on the roads. China said in November that it aims to cap its annual coal use at 4.2 billion tonnes by 2020, a one-sixth increase on current consumption, already by far the world's largest. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

Climate change deal in Paris is crucial for Asia’s ability to thrive

The Eiffel Tower is seen at sunset in Paris, France, November 9, 2015. The capital will host the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) from November 30 to December 11. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Residents travel across floodwaters a week after typhoon Koppu battered Calumpit town, Bulacan province, north of Manila October 24, 2015. Typhoon Koppu, that dumped heavy rains on the northern Philippines, killing 58 people as it flattened houses and destroyed crops, was petering out on Wednesday, weather officials said. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

epa05011878 YEARENDER 2015 OCTOBER An Indonesian man rides a wooden boat amid thick yellow haze on Kahayan river in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia, 23 October 2015. EPA/HUGO HUDOYOKO

To go with PHILIPPINES-TYPHOON-CLIMATE, Focus by Ted Aljibe This photo taken on November 1, 2015 shows workers carrying a newly-made wooden boat to be distributed to fishermen who lost their fishing boats at the height of typhoon Haiyan at a coastal village in Tacloban City, Leyte province, central Philippines, ahead of the two-year anniversary of the devastating typhoon. Two years after a super typhoon devastated the Philippines and sounded a global alarm on climate change, a massive rebuilding programme has had big successes but at least one million survivors are still without safe homes. AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE

epa04988330 YEARENDER 2015 MAY Road markings appear distorted during a heatwave, in New Delhi, India, 27 May 2015. More than 1,150 people are reported dead from a heat wave that hit India. EPA/HARISH TYAGI *** Local Caption *** 51960207

The Eiffel Tower is seen at sunset in Paris. Countries will gather here for the UN climate change conference and it is crucial that a deal is reached. Photo: Reuters

Time running out to meet global warming target - UN report

Greenpeace activists project a slogan onto the cooling tower of the brown coal fired Belchatow power plant, in Belchatow, Poland. Photo: EPA

In this framegrab of images provided by NOAA shows images from the wide-angle camera trained on a weather buoy maintained by the North Pole Environmental Observatory at the North Pole. The top image is a June 7, 2013 frame grab. The bottom image is a July 25, 2013 frame grab. The shallow meltwater lake is occuring due to an unusually warm period. Photo: AP

From refugee crisis to climate change, G20 leaders must be equal to the challenge of finding solutions 

Migrants and refugees wait for a train heading to Serbia from the Greek-Macedonian border near Gevgelija on November 5, 2015. European leaders tried to focus on joint action with Africa to tackle the migration crisis, as Slovenia became the latest EU member to act on its own by barricading its border. AFP PHOTO / ROBERT ATANASOVSKI

Migrants and refugees wait for a train heading to Serbia from the Greek-Macedonian border earlier this month. The migration crisis is high on the agenda for the forthcoming G20 meeting in Turkey. Photo: AFP

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China

Diplomacy

Xie Zhenhua, mainland’s climate change representative, warns that divisions exist ahead of talks over the burdens developing and developed nations will face for carbon emission cuts
