Climate Change

After British secretary of state for energy and climate change Ed Miliband accused China had sabotaged a legally binding agreement during the Copenhagen climate change summit, a Chinese FM spokeswoman rejected the assertion as an attempt to avoid the obligations of developed nations by sowing discord among poorer countries. Miliband later said, ""The most important thing for a country like China is to persuade them that they have nothing to fear from a legal treaty."

Climate Change

After bringing the Copenhagen climate talks to a standstill for a week by resisting international verification, claimed to be an affront to national sovereignty, China finally joined four other major nations (US, India, Brazil and South Africa) to an accord that sets a goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050. The accord, which was not a legally binding treaty and sets no goal for concluding a binding international treaty, was later presented to other participants in the summit who grudgingly "take note" of the agreement. The accord was only reached after China inexplicably sent two lower-level officials to meet with US President Barack Obama, prompting Obama to break into a meeting of Premier Wen Jiabo and the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa, which led to the conclusion of the agreement.

Climate Change

China played the role of naysayer very well at at the Copenhagen climate summit, as the China-led Group of 77 countries raised repeated objections to what they see as the economic and environmental tyranny of the industrial world. China invoked procedural grounds to reject an attempt by the Danish presidency to put forward draft outcome texts, which the Chinese delegate called "some texts from the sky". China also opposed the carbon tariffs proposed by some unnamed "individuals and international organizations".

Climate Change

During the climate change negotiations at the Copenhagen summit, China refused to accept international monitoring of its emissions levels, maintaining that China’s laws would guarantee compliance. As the US climate change negotiator declared that "[no] public funds, certainly not from the US, [is] going to China", China quickly changed its propaganda headline from ""for the sake of humanity, the Copenhagen conference must succeed" to a much less inspiring "We must work together for the sake of humanity". Meanwhile, China was clearly installed as the leader of the developing countries bloc, forcing African countries to break from a group of "most vulnerable countries" after Tuvalu, much to China's dismay, called for discussions on a legally binding amendment to the Kyoto Protocol that would set targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for major emerging economies including China.

Climate Change

The UN Board in charge of the CDM suspended approvals for about 50 Chinese wind farms amid suspicions that those projects did not meet the requirement of additionality as the Chinese Government may have deliberately lowered subsidies to make the projects eligible for funding. China now has almost half of the total carbon credits issued under the CDM programme.

Climate Change

China's State Council announced that, as a "voluntary action on the part of the Chinese government" "based on national conditions", China had set the target to reduce carbon intensity (amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels. While the announcement was seen as "a great step forward", the target fell short of the 50 or 55 percent cut many countries had hoped for and was something that China's existing policies would have attained anyway. Given China's GDP growth, the projected cuts in carbon intensity would mean China's overall emission levels would still grow 72 to 88 percent by 2020.

Climate Change

Calling global warming as "an indisputable fact", China's national legislature adopted a resolution on climate change ahead of the Copenhagen summit. The resolution reiterated China's position on climate change issues, saying China "as a developing country" will firmly "maintain the right to development," and opposes "any form of trade protectionism disguised as tackling climate change". Previously, China and India struck a chord of harmony by blaming developed countries for the lack of progress towards a deal, saying "[t]hey have talked much, but not done much".

Climate Change

China’s negotiator on climate change expressed optimism that a new agreement to reduce greenhouse gases would be reached this year, but maintained China’s opposition to a ceiling on her emissions of greenhouse gases, a step some experts see as crucial to efforts to slow global warming.

Climate Change

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on his third visit to China since taking office, urged China to be a global leader in fighting climate change ahead of the Copenhagen summit. "China has an opportunity to blaze a new trail for the world" in creating a new low-emission development model, he said.

Climate Change
Trade

After the US House of Representatives passed a "cap and trade" bill that would impose a carbon tax on imports from countries that decline to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a Chinese vice foreign minister said China is "firmly against such attempts to advance trade protectionism under the pretext of climate change". It is interesting that China's charge appears to be at odds with an assessment by the WTO secretariat which gave a cautious nod to carbon tariffs.