Editor’s Note:
The following are excerpts of speeches and interviews by Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, before and during the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan:
Countries must not only ensure energy security and promote economic and social development, but also accelerate the transition to clean energy and strive to achieve the goal of net zero emissions. At the same time, it should be noted that the energy transition has become a key factor affecting economic, trade and technological cooperation among countries, and has also become a focus in major power games.
It is actually more difficult for China to realize the transition to green energy than other major countries, and it faces huge challenges. It is difficult for industrial processes to fully achieve net zero emissions, and the carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies have not yet fully matured to be applied on a large scale. China’s energy consumption continues to grow rapidly, and it faces great pressure in coordinating its green transformation with energy security and reliability. While wind power and solar photovoltaic technologies are mature and the cost has been reduced, energy storage and power grid supporting technologies are still not advanced. Hydrogen energy has developed rapidly, but it cannot replace oil and natural gas in the near future.
The deterioration of the international economic environment has already had an impact on China’s green transformation. In addition to the unreasonable tariffs imposed by developed economies such as the United States on Chinese green products, the carbon content or carbon footprint of imported and exported goods has become a key factor in reshaping trade links.
COP29 should seek to enhance the confidence of the global community in the achievability of the necessary global green transformation. It should stress the importance of upholding the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and diligently enforce the legal agreements that are in place.
China stands ready to work with the international community to uphold multilateralism, ensure fairness and justice in climate governance, respect market rules and free trade, and contribute to the success of COP29 to provide greater stability and certainty to global climate governance.
The developed countries should fulfill their commitments by providing financial support to help developing countries enhance their capacity to respond to climate challenges.