December 21, 2015
ASIA / PACIFIC
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
China’s efforts on climate deal partly due to its pollution
By Louise Watt
The Associated Press
EIJING — China’s push for a
global climate pact was due in part
to its own increasingly pressing
need to solve serious environmental
problems, according to observers.
China, the world’s biggest source of
climate-changing gasses, was blamed for
obstructing the last high-level climate
talks in Copenhagen in 2009. This time
around, it sent strong political signals it
wanted a deal ahead of and during the
Paris negotiations that ended with an
agreement to keep global temperatures
from rising another degree Celsius (1.8
Fahrenheit) between now and 2100.
“Environmental issues have become
much more important to the Chinese
public and therefore to the Chinese
government,” said Dimitri de Boer, head of
China Carbon Forum, a Beijing-based
nonprofit organization.
Since 2009, the public has gone from not
knowing much or caring about environ-
mental issues “and mainly being focused
on wanting to make some money, to now
being very concerned with environmental
issues and taking that on par with wanting
to make money,” he said.
China’s cities are among the world’s
dirtiest after three decades of explosive
economic growth that led to construction of
hundreds of coal-fired power plants and an
increase in car ownership.
China was reminded of its severe envi-
ronmental challenges during the Paris
conference when the capital, Beijing,
issued its first red alert for pollution under
a two-year system because of heavy smog.
The city ordered limits on vehicles,
factories, and construction sites and told
schools to close.
China pushed for a deal because of its
own problems and because the effects of
climate change are becoming clearer each
B
year, said Dr. Jiang Kejun, senior
researcher at the Energy Research
Institute under the National Development
and Reform Commission, China’s top
economic planning agency.
The message on climate change “is very
clear — we must do something — and in
the meantime the domestic policymaking
process is getting more environment-
oriented,” Jiang said. The air pollution in
Beijing is putting pressure on policy-
makers and China is moving toward a
low-carbon economy anyway, he said.
To build momentum for a deal, China
and the United States, the world’s two
biggest carbon emitters, last year set a
2030 deadline for emissions to stop rising.
This June, Beijing promised to cut carbon
emissions per unit of economic output by
65 percent from 2005 levels.
In September, Chinese President Xi
Jinping pledged $3.1 billion to help devel-
oping countries combat climate change.
“That’s huge,” said de Boer. “They may
well be a developing country, but they are
also clearly ready to start supporting the
least-developed countries in terms of their
climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.”
Xi attended the opening ceremony of the
Paris conference along with other leaders
— and made a last-ditch effort in phone
talks with President Barack Obama to get
PERVASIVE POLLUTION. In this combination
of photos from the first week of December, women
wear masks to protect themselves from air pollutants
in Beijing. Many in Beijing are becoming accustomed
to wearing masks during winter since episodes of
nauseating smog lasting several days have become
common. China’s push for a global climate pact was
due in part to its own pressing need to solve serious
environmental problems, according to observers.
(AP Photo/Andy Wong)
a global deal, according to China’s official
Xinhua News Agency. He told Obama that
their countries needed to work together to
ensure an agreement was reached “in the
interest of the international community,”
Xinhua said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman
Hong Lei said China’s push for a successful
conclusion to the Paris negotiations “fully
shows that China is dealing with climate-
change issues as a responsible big
country.”
Beijing came under criticism for
obstructing the 2009 Copenhagen talks
when some participants complained China
and India stymied global emissions
reduction efforts, possibly for fear they
might hamper economic growth.
Now, the world’s second-largest econo-
my has emerged as a leader in curbing
greenhouse-gas emissions by investing in
solar, wind, and hydro power and even
reducing its coal consumption last year as
it attempts to clean up its polluted cities.
It is also already nurturing more self-
sustaining growth as it refocuses its econo-
my away from energy-hungry heavy in-
dustry to consumer spending and technol-
ogy and making energy-efficiency gains.
Dr. Olivia Gippner, a climate-politics
researcher at the London School of
Economics, said that China’s actions in the
run-up to the conference indicated that it
had “a very high willingness to do
something,” which sent an important
signal to other countries.
“It was like an opener for the overall
negotiations to go forward,” she said.
Mark your calendar! The Year of the Monkey begins February 8, 2016.