China urges US to hold the line on climate policy, regardless of election outcome
South China Morning Post
4 min read
A senior Chinese official has called on the United States to maintain stable climate change policies after Tuesday's presidential election.
Xia Yingxian, director of the climate change department of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, told a press conference on Friday that he hoped the US would continue to "work with other countries to implement the provisions of the Paris Agreement".
China will send a delegation of more than 90 people to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as Cop29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month and will continue to "deepen South-South cooperation on climate change", according to Xia.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
He added that Beijing expected Washington to "maintain the stability and consistency of its climate policy" after the election.
Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said if Donald Trump won the election, "his administration will reverse US climate policies and shelve bilateral climate talks with China".
The former president, who once called climate change a hoax, withdrew the US from the 2015 Paris Agreement in 2017 and suspended climate negotiations with China. President Joe Biden announced US re-entry into the agreements in 2021.
"A second Trump administration will be an unprecedented test for global climate commitments," Li said.
But victory for Kamala Harris "would come with a continued US commitment to the global agenda and likely a continuation of US-China cooperation on climate change", according to Belinda Schaepe, a China policy analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
Despite tensions between the US and China over a range of issues - including trade, technology, human rights and geopolitics - climate issues have always been seen as an important factor in easing bilateral relations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged that the world's second-largest economy will reach peak carbon emissions by 2030, followed by a gradual decline and carbon neutrality by 2060.
In September, climate envoys from both countries pledged to strengthen dialogue to jointly promote the success of Cop29 and narrow differences on key issues - such as climate finance and non-carbon emissions - following talks in Beijing.
The Cop29 climate change conference will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month. Photo: Reuters alt=The Cop29 climate change conference will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month. Photo: Reuters>
Azerbaijan's Yalchin Rafiyev, chief negotiator for the climate summit's host country, said the narrowing gap between Beijing and Washington on climate finance would bring "positive signals" for Cop29.
Last year's Cop28 summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, reached a landmark agreement to phase out fossil fuels. But Cop29 has the task of pricing in the costs that developing countries face to cope with the growing effects of climate change and the transition to a greener economy.
On Friday, Xia said China "has actively and constructively participated in global governance to address climate change" and "become an activist and doer in the climate field".
Xia stressed that China would work with other developing countries to urge developed countries to meet their financial commitments and that China would "provide new and robust financial support".
Schaepe said China had made "significant contributions" to global climate finance, but "the lack of transparency on projects and financial flows makes it hard to assess the actual impact".
"Greater transparency in China's climate finance projects could strengthen its image as a reliable partner for the Global South," she said.
"At this Cop29, China can showcase its role as a climate leader and supporter of countries in the Global South by clarifying how it aims to support the global green transition, including financially."
If the US again withdraws from the Paris Agreement after a Trump win, Schaepe said, "China wouldn't have to do much to be seen as a climate leader and as the more responsible global power when it comes to tackling climate change".
The agreement aims to cap the rise in global temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Li said that at Cop29 China has the potential to "become a unique force that unites the Global North and Global South, a responsible partner that global climate politics so critically needs now".
"But without joint progress by the world's two largest economies, global climate action won't go far or fast enough" he said.
