COP26: developed nations should meet climate finance pledges, China says before Glasgow summit

Developing countries’ needs were not ‘taken seriously and effectively responded to’ at past summits, environment vice-minister Ye Min says
Summit’s finance plan shows developed countries’ pledge of US$100 billion a year in climate funds by 2020 is three years behind schedule

Climate change

Echo Xie

Published: 11:30pm, 27 Oct 2021

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Developed countries should offer more help to the developing world in coping with climate change, China said ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, set to begin on Sunday.

“At previous summits, developing countries were disappointed that the finance and climate adaptation issues that concerned them could not be taken seriously and effectively responded to,” environment vice-minister Ye Min said on Wednesday. “This has become the biggest obstacle [in negotiations].

Climate finance will be central to the Glasgow summit, also known as COP26. Ye’s comments came after the UK presidency of COP26 on Monday published the Climate Finance Delivery Plan, under which developed countries pledged to provide US$100 billion a year in climate finance to support developing countries by 2023, three years later than originally planned.

Rich nations had promised at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009 to channel US$100 billion a year to less wealthy nations by 2020 to help them adapt to climate change and reduce emissions. The goal was reiterated in the 2015 Paris climate accord, but has not been achieved.

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According to an assessment in September by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, rich countries contributed US$80 billion in climate finance to developing countries in 2019, up from US$78 billion a year earlier but still below the 2020 target.

“We will not be there in 2022, but in 2023 we will finally reach or even surpass this target,” said Jochen Flasbarth, state secretary at the German environment ministry, on Monday. “Still, I urge developed countries and multilateral development banks to continue in their effort to even increase climate finance to the highest possible range.”

Ye argued that COP26 should focus on implementation of previous pledges, saying countries should “translate goals into policies, measures and specific action and avoid turning goals into empty slogans”.

China expected to work with other countries to make progress in negotiations to implement article 6 of the Paris agreement, he said, referring to rules that can help countries reduce emissions by introducing an international carbon market.

“We hope this market mechanism can supply climate finance for developing countries to adapt to climate change,” said Sun Zhen, an official with the environment ministry.

However, the Chinese environmental officials did not mention the target of boosting efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial level by the end of the century.

Under the Paris agreement, countries agreed to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius, and try to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.

Some developing countries disagreed on the 1.5 degrees target, along with a call for all countries to adopt net-zero targets by 2050. Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said at a meeting last week that countries should form a consensus based on the targets set in the Paris climate accord and “common but differentiated responsibilities”.

But current commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions will put the planet on track for at least a 2.7 degrees Celsius temperature rise this century, according to a United Nations report that was released on Tuesday.

The report found that countries’ updated pledges and other commitments made for 2030 but not yet officially submitted would lead to an additional 7.5 per cent reduction in annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2030, compared with their previous commitments.

Reductions of 30 per cent are needed to stay on the pathway for 2 degrees Celsius, and 55 per cent would be needed to achieve 1.5 degrees.

China and India, which together are responsible for about 30 per cent of global emissions, have not yet made enhanced pledges.