Follow us on:   

Lima Climate meet: China insists on differentiated responsibilities
December 2, 2014, 6:07 am

say rich countries must do far more to cut emissions since they contributed the most to environmental degradation since the Industrial Revolution [Image: UNEP]

China say rich countries must do far more to cut emissions since they contributed the most to environmental degradation since the Industrial Revolution [Image: UNEP]

China will work with all parties to push for positive outcomes out of the Lima meeting in accordance with the equality principle, common but differentiated responsibilities and the respective capabilities principles, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing.

Beijing is reiterating calls by developing countries that say rich countries must do far more to cut emissions since they contributed the most to environment degradation since the Industrial Revolution.

Rich nations, meanwhile, say emerging economies led by China have to accept both caps and cuts.

Over 190 nations are negotiating new limits on greenhouse gas in a UN conference in Lima, the capital of Peru.

China hopes the Lima Climate Change Conference can reach consensus on key elements of a new deal on carbon emissions, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Monday.

Xie Zhenhua, deputy chief of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, headed the Chinese delegation to Lima.

China and other developing countries continue to insist that “adaptation, finance, technology and capacity building support from developed countries” should also be included in the draft text of the 2015 agreement.

The Lima meeting must specify what should be included in “intended nationally determined contributions”, said the Chinese spokesperson.

Developed countries should continue to take the lead in cutting emissions by large margins before 2020 while offering finance, technology and capacity building support to developing countries to help them adapt to and address climate change, said Hua.

China’s BRICS partners, India and Russia, are yet to set a target for fossil fuel.

The UN is urging around 200 nations to arrive at a consensus for a climate accord at a summit in Paris in late 2015.

In a key announcement made by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama earlier last month, both countries agreed on an accord to cut emissions. China said 2030 would be peak year for its soaring greenhouse gas emissions, the first time it has set a limit. The US would cut emissions by more than a quarter from 2005 levels by 2025, stressed Obama.

A UN panel on climate change has warned that unchecked climate change could have “severe, widespread and irreversible impacts” on human society and nature with heatwaves, floods, storms and rising sea levels.

The 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is being held in the Peruvian capital Lima from Dec. 1- 12.

The meeting is intended to pave the way for a new agreement addressing climate change, planned to be passed at the end of 2015 in Paris and come into force in 2020.

 

TBP and Agencies