China reaffirms its commitment to fight climate change
Sharm el Sheikh. China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and whose president, Xi Jinping, did not attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to the global fight against climate change.
“Beijing’s determination to actively participate in global climate governance will not retreat or change,” Chinese climate emissary Xie Zhenhua said while participating in COP27.
“This year, extreme weather events were frequent, with severe damage on numerous continents,” commented Xie, speaking at a side event at the summit. He highlighted China’s actions to combat warming, such as its continued reduction in solar panel prices and its position as the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles.
You may be interested in: Solar panel estimates San Antonio, Texas.
For his part, John Kerry, U.S. climate emissary, assured that President Joe Biden will maintain his fight against climate change whatever the outcome of the midterm elections. “Even if we lose, the president is determined to continue what we’re doing, and it can’t be changed by anyone who comes after us,” he added.
The poorest nations managed to include in the official COP27 agenda the chapter on “damages and losses”, which proposes compensations for the damage caused by two centuries of industrialization and intensive use of fossil fuels.
Poor countries: rich countries aggravate global warming
Rich nations believe that such payments should be voluntary and should not be linked to the possibility of facing lawsuits in international courts. Leaders of poor countries criticized rich governments and oil companies for aggravating global warming.
You may be interested in: Solar panel estimates San Antonio, Texas.
Small island states, battered by increasingly violent storms and rising sea levels, asked the oil companies to pay back some of their huge profits.
“The oil and gas industry continues to generate nearly $3 billion a day in profits,” said Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall said developing African nations need more funds to adapt to climate change, and cannot immediately abandon fossil fuels as it would undermine their economic growth.
His Sri Lankan counterpart, Ranil Wickremesinghe, noted that the West has rushed to contribute billions of dollars to Ukraine, but is avoiding investing in climate change mitigation.
Southern nations would need more than $2.4 trillion a year to finance their fight against climate change, according to a report commissioned by the COP27 presidency released yesterday.
About half of that amount will have to come from outside investors, and the rest from public and private sources within nations.
You may be interested in: Solar panel estimates San Antonio, Texas.
The aim of such investments is to “reduce emissions, strengthen resilience, address damages and losses caused by climate change, and restore land and nature,” the document said. Current investments are only 500 billion dollars.
A United Nations report denounced companies that claim a commitment to carbon neutrality, but do not reduce their emissions or use of fossil fuels.
The study indicated that the companies pretend to compensate for their lack of action with reforestation plans or the development of renewable energies, in what it described as “a toxic deception”.
You may be interested in: Solar panel estimates San Antonio, Texas.
In the context of COP27, Greta Thunberg’s environmental group Friday for the Future protested against the policies of the German government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, an action joined by Vanessa Nakate, from Uganda, who pointed out that the African continent emits a tiny fraction of greenhouse gases.
Also participating was eleven-year-old Indian activist Licypriya Kangujam, who has repeatedly said she does not want to be compared to Thunberg.
