Abstract: In his speech at the 3rd Bund Summit, Xie Zhenhua, China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change proposed four measures for countries to work together and cope with climate change, i.e. 1) building global consensus, 2) implementing governance responsibilities, 3) strengthening international cooperation, and 4) stepping up financial support for endeavors against this grave challenge.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning!
It’s my great pleasure to address the 3rd Bund Summit themed “Recovery, Challenges and Sustainability in the post-COVID Era”. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a severe test to the human society. At the same time, climate change has become an immediate crisis rather than a distant one, threatening the survival and development of the entire humanity and the wellbeing of our future generations. We must work together and spare no effort to cope with this grave challenge, and create a better shared future for the global community.
First, we need to build global consensus on how to cope with climate change.
The Paris Agreement in 2015 is an important milestone in global climate governance, and laid a solid institutional foundation for the international community’s joint endeavor against climate change in the 2020s and beyond. In the months leading up to COP21, Chinese President Xi Jinping released joint statements with the heads of state of the US and France among other countries, and attended the event in person, making historical and fundamental contributions to the birth of the Paris Agreement.
Now the Paris Agreement has come into effect, but its full implementation remains a long and arduous task. The latest report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations this August further underlined the urgency and necessity of global efforts to address climate change. With the COP26 in Glasgow approaching, all countries should uphold multilateralism, and based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, fairness, and respective capabilities, negotiate the detailed rules for implementing the Agreement and build consensus on how to take firm actions in the coming decade as soon as possible, so as to achieve the goal set forth in the Agreement of holding global average temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and striving to limit it to 1.5°C.
Second, countries need to further carry out climate responsibilities.
Combating climate change requires all parties to take on their commitments and carry out concrete actions. President Xi Jinping announced at the 75th United Nations General Assembly in September last year that China will have its carbon dioxide emissions peak by 2030 and will strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. This is a major decision made by Chinese leadership after careful consideration, which concerns the country’s sustainable development and mankind’s shared future.
As a developing country, China still faces problems of insufficient and unbalanced development, and achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality requires tremendous efforts. The central government has established a leading group on the dual carbon targets, which has been formulating a “1+N” policy system and will release successively a top-level design document, an action plan for peaking carbon by 2030, and policy measures for key sectors and industries. We are firm in our commitment to achieving the two targets as scheduled, and will strive to do better.
To achieve the goals set by the Paris Agreement, relying on the efforts of China and other developing countries will not suffice. We hope that developed countries will, in accordance with the Paris Agreement, face up to their historical responsibilities, take the lead in reducing emissions substantially, achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, and deliver on their promises to provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries and help them with capacity building.
Third, international cooperation needs to be strengthened in tackling climate change.
Technological innovation is the key to achieving the goals set in the Paris Agreement, so all countries need to strengthen international cooperation in technology-related fields. China is willing to work with all parties including the United States and Europe to strengthen pragmatic cooperation to tackle climate change, especially in the field of green and low-carbon technologies.
This year, in the spirit of the phone call between the two heads of state, China and the United States have held two face-to-face talks and more than 20 video meetings. The two sides published the China-U.S. Joint Statement Addressing the Climate Crisis in Shanghai in April, proposing cooperation plans in the following areas: ‘policies, measures, and technologies to decarbonize industry and power, including through circular economy, energy storage and grid reliability, CCUS, and green hydrogen; increased deployment of renewable energy; green and climate resilient agriculture; energy efficient buildings; green, low-carbon transportation; cooperation on addressing emissions of methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases; cooperation on addressing emissions from international civil aviation and maritime activities; and other near-term policies and measures, including with respect to reducing emissions from coal, oil, and gas. ’
This September, China and the EU held the High-Level Environment and Climate Dialogue. In the joint press communiqué, both parties agreed to continue and expand the cooperation in the fields of energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement, circular economy, renewable energy, green transportation, green buildings, green finance, CCUS and hydrogen energy, etc. These are key areas in green and low-carbon technology cooperation which hold great promises for both businesses and financial institutions.
Fourth, financial support to address climate change needs to be fulfilled.
According to the United Nations, the world will need nearly $100 trillion to achieve the temperature target set by the Paris Agreement. To fill such a large funding gap, first of all, developed countries should honor their commitment of $100 billion per year and leverage public funds to mobilize private capital into green transition. On top of that, countries need to actively develop green finance, optimize institutional arrangements, policy framework and information disclosure systems to support green sustainable investment, and lead social investment to low-carbon fields.
Meanwhile, to cut more emissions at lower cost, and promote technological innovation and sustainable development, we must establish carbon markets and carbon pricing mechanisms at national, regional and global levels. To provide stable funding for climate adaptation and capacity building in developing countries, we need a carbon market revenue sharing mechanism. It is also necessary to ensure the integrity of the global carbon market to avoid double counting of emission reduction or carbon leakage and ensure fair trade.
President Xi Jinping announced at the General Debate of the 76th UN General Assembly this September that China would strongly support the green and low-carbon development of developing countries and would stop building new coal-fired power projects abroad. In honoring these commitments, we will expand international investment and financing in support of developing countries’ transition from high-carbon fossil energy to green, low-carbon and renewable energy in order to jointly build a green "Belt and Road".
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, this forum invites financial experts from around the world to share their diverse experiences and exchange global best practices. I hope our discussions here will generate innovative solutions to green finance development, climate mitigation and adaptation, and catalyze a green, low-carbon and high-quality economic recovery after the pandemic, both for China and the world.
At last, I wish the 3rd Bund Summit a great success. Thank you!
This is the speech made by the author at the 3rd Bund Summit on October 23rd, 2021. The views expressed herein are the author’s own and do not represent those of CF40 or other organizations. It is translated by CF40 and has not been reviewed by the author himself.
