China did not promise additional action in the wake of the United Nations’ “bleak” report Tuesday, finding the world needs to increase its pledges to the Paris agreement, especially the largest greenhouse gas emitters.
China’s top environmental officials at a press briefing Wednesday reiterated their support for the Paris agreement, a step beyond what the United States is doing after the Trump administration began the process of withdrawing from the pact. China and the U.S. are the world’s two largest emitters, in that order.
However, China did not pledge deeper emissions cuts beyond its original Paris commitment of halting the increase in its emissions by 2030, which experts consider insufficient. Officials told reporters China has met its carbon reduction goal for 2020 ahead of schedule.
But the officials did not respond to a proposal from the U.N.’s “emissions gap” report that China ban all new coal plants. While China has invested more than any country into clean energy and is the largest market for electric vehicles, it is planning a surge of new coal plants.
“As the world’s largest developing country, on the one hand, we continue to work hard to advance the fight against climate change,” Zhao Yingmin, China’s vice environmental minister, said at the briefing, in comments reported by Bloomberg. “On the other hand, we are indeed facing multiple challenges such as developing the economy, improving people’s livelihood, eliminating poverty, and controlling pollution.”
His comments come ahead of a new round of climate talks in Madrid next week, where countries will work to finalize rules implementing the Paris agreement.
