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Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing.

China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight.
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Key developments

Voices from China 

‘TRUE MULTILATERILIAM’: Although not attending COP29 in person, Chinese president Xi Jinping issued a call for the global south to “work together to practise true multilateralism, and to advocate for an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation”, state-run newspaper China Daily reported.

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CLIMATE FINANCE: Ding Xuexiang, Xi’s “special representative” at COP and China’s executive vice-premier, notably used the UN language of climate finance to describe Chinese overseas aid for the first time (see below). Speaking at a “high level segment” on Tuesday, Ding added that the “complete transformation of growth models is the fundamental solution to climate change”. He also called for “strengthening early-warning systems for all and enhancing climate adaptation capacity” – a ”specific requirement” from Xi, according to state news agency Xinhua.

‘ENHANCED’ ACTION: At a methane summit co-hosted by China and the US, and attended by Carbon Brief, climate envoy Liu Zhenmin said that “co-operation on global climate action will continue to be enhanced.” (See below.) Speaking at China’s large and very busy “pavilion”, Liu said climate change is a global challenge and China, in particular, has experienced more severe extreme weather events recently. He touted investments worth $676bn in energy transformation and said China’s export of wind and solar products had helped the world cut emissions by 810m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

‘PUSHING FORWARD’: Speaking at a separate China pavilion event, Zhao Yingmin, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), said that “addressing climate change is a global consensus” and that China is taking the responsibility of “pushing forward green and low-carbon development”. He also emphasised the role of women and young people in tackling climate change, saying “we need to mobilise all forces”.

‘CRITICAL POINT’: Xia Yingxian, director of the climate department of the MEE, commented at a press conference ahead of COP29 that this year is a “critical point for climate-finance negotiations” and that developed countries must “fulfil their commitment”, according to business news outlet 21st Century Business Herald. Back at the COP29 China pavilion, Carbon Brief heard an official speaking on behalf of Xia again supporting multilateral cooperation and saying China had an “unswerving” commitment to climate action. He added that an energy transition covering “all aspects” of society is needed. The official representing Xia closed his remarks in English, saying: “China is very willing to cooperate…to promote a low-carbon and sustainable future.”

STEPPING UP: Wen Hua, deputy director-general of the Department of Resources Conservation and Environmental Protection of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top planner, told the methane event that “China is willing to take a more active role in global climate governance”.

Agenda fight

TRADE CONCERNS: China, on behalf of the BASIC group (Brazil, China, India and South Africa), “submitted a proposal” ahead of COP29 to include “concerns with climate-change related unilateral restrictive trade measures” in the conference’s agenda, Reuters reported. According to the full text of the request, BASIC argued that “unilateral trade-restrictive measures adopted by developed country parties under the guise of climate objectives [have] disproportionate adverse effects on developing country parties”. The text added that parties must “send a clear and strong signal of commitment to multilateralism and global cooperation”.

HORSE-TRADING: The request was largely interpreted as pushback to the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which China has “strongly criticised” in the past. Climate Home News noted that “BASIC countries have long opposed” the CBAM and “made a similar agenda proposal” for COP28. The BASIC request – ultimately shunted into unofficial “presidential consultations” – was at the heart of an “agenda fight” that dominated the first day in Baku. The fight also encompassed a broader, ongoing argument over how to take forward the COP28 pledge on “transitioning away from fossil fuels”, with the LMDC group, including China, opposing this being part of the so-called UAE dialogue.

Climate finance 

‘HUGE DIVISIONS’: China entered the “finance COP” under pressure to play an upgraded role in climate finance, as “huge divisions” emerged over how much money should be paid into the “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG) and by whom, the Financial Times reported. Beijing has “firmly rejected” these calls, according to Agence France-Presse, which quoted a Chinese official “warning on Sunday during a closed-door session that the talks should not aim to ‘renegotiate’ existing agreements”. The state-run broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN) quoted envoy Liu calling on “developed countries to take the lead in providing financial assistance to developing nations”.

$1.3 TRILLION: Early on in negotiations, the G77+China negotiating bloc also rejected the proposed text for a NCQG framework, the New Indian Express reported, adding that they called for $1.3tn per year to be provided by developed countries and for “a fresh, equitable text…prioritis[ing] the needs of developing countries and uphold[ing] the principles of equity and ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’”.

OLIVE BRANCH: In his COP29 speech, vice premier Ding offered an olive branch by telling delegates that China has already “provided and mobilised project funds of more than 177bn yuan ($24.5bn) for developing countries’ climate response”. This is the first time China has used the language of climate finance, Kate Logan, director at the China climate hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), wrote on Twitter. She added that this “plac[ed China’s contributions] on the same order – if not higher than – many developed countries’ efforts” and gave China “teeth in pushing developed countries to do more”.

SOLUTION PROVIDER: Speaking to Carbon Brief in May, Li Shuo, director at ASPI’s China climate hub, said that one possible solution, in his view, was to leverage China’s position as “the biggest solution provider” for low-carbon technologies to encourage it to “provide finance or facilitate investment” in developing countries’ energy transitions, allowing China to find a palatable role for itself in an outer layer of a potential “onion” structure for the NCQG.

US-China climate cooperation 

LOOMING SHADOW: China and the US entered COP29 after a series of meetings between climate envoys John Podesta and Liu Zhenmin, but without an equivalent to last year’s Sunnylands statement – a document that “signalled Biden and Xi’s shared intent to address the climate crisis”, according to thinktank the Lowy Institute. Liu told reporters that China is “concerned” about US climate policy under a second Trump administration, although he emphasised that “international multilateral climate cooperation should continue”. Meanwhile, Podesta said in a press conference attended by Carbon Brief that China has an “obligation…to come forward with a 1.5C-aligned, all-greenhouse-gas, economy-wide [NDC climate pledge]”, adding that, on the climate-finance question, expanding the donor base is “long warranted” and that “large emitters must be accountable”. (Ding confirmed in his COP29 address that China’s climate pledge would be economy-wide and cover all greenhouse gases.) However, the New York Times noted that it may be difficult at COP29 to replicate the “key roles” US negotiators have played in “persuading countries like China…to commit to tougher emissions targets”.

CHINA LEADS: As the world awaits a US retreat from the global climate stage, China “appears more committed to the [Paris] agreement than ever”, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting former climate negotiator Jonathan Pershing saying: “Everyone looks to China now…I think with the US out, China will step up, but in a very different way.” In a press conference watched by Carbon Brief, Yuan Ying, chief China representative at Greenpeace, echoed this message, saying that the US election results should not cause China to “lower their ambition level” and that it should instead fill the “climate leadership vacuum”. ASPI’s Li, speaking at a Carbon Brief event ahead of COP29, said that it is crucial for China to note that its actions in negotiations will send a “strong signal” to the rest of the world on the “future of global climate governance”, adding that “China has invested a lot” in its image as a climate leader.

BRIGHT SPOT: Methane remains one area where US-China cooperation has traction. While China did not make any new announcements at the COP29 summit on methane and non-CO2 greenhouse gases, attended by Carbon Brief, Liu did use the platform to state that “China-US co-operation on enhancing climate action had been effective over the past year”, adding that he “hope[d]” that US-China climate cooperation “will continue to be enhanced”. Ryna Cui, associate research professor and acting director of the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland, told Carbon Brief that both countries underscored their “strong interest to continue [cooperation], especially on issues like methane” at the summit , adding that “strong” channels at the subnational and non-government levels “will become increasingly critical to make engagement [in methane and other areas] more robust” in the years ahead.

Emphasising energy transition

TRANSITION PATHWAYS: “Energy transition” has been emphasised by multiple high-level Chinese officials at this year’s COP. At the China pavilion, the Energy Research Institute of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research (ERI), a research thinktank under the supervision of the NDRC, launched its 2024 China energy transition report – a key document illustrating China’s potential energy transition pathways. Lyu Wenbin, head of the institute, told Carbon Brief: “The Chinese government has proposed the ‘dual-carbon’ goal and energy transition is an important part of it. With the goal being clearly set, what we can do for delivering it is to choose the best pathway.” Bai Quan, director of the energy study centre, told Carbon Brief that the biggest difference between the 2023 and 2024 report was the “emphasis on global cooperation”. He said: “Our report has absorbed [energy transition] experiences from different places…We would love to discuss more new ideas with everyone else in the world.”

COAL CRITICISM: The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol said at the launch of the report that there are few countries that are prepared for the new era of electricity and that China is the “leading one”. However, he cautioned that China “needs to pay attention to its coal-fired power plants sooner than later”, adding that “renewable energy with batteries will be a better solution for China’s energy demands than coal”.

Captured

China sent a delegation of 969 people to COP29, according to new analysis by Carbon Brief, as the country seeks to boost its influence in climate diplomacy. The numbers are lower than they were for COP28, when the China delegation included 1,296 people. Nevertheless, the size of the official “party” delegation, at 190, is double the average party delegation China sent from COP20 to COP27. A further 779 members of the Chinese delegation went to Baku as “overflow” participants.

Watch, read, listen

CHINESE LENDING: A new report by ODI explored recent “diversification of Chinese lending” to infrastructure projects, including energy infrastructure, in African countries.

NCQG: A new article by the Asia Society Policy Institute assessed how China could be incentivised to contribute more to the new COP29 finance goal.

EXPERT VIEWS: Greenovation Hub published a readout from a closed-door session, in which they hosted a number of China’s climate experts to “discuss the mobilisation of climate finance and the strengthening of climate goal setting” ahead of COP29.

NEW ERA: The European Council on Foreign Relations described how the EU could use its “diplomatic and regulatory toolbox” to encourage China to set ambitious climate targets in the absence of “crucial” US climate diplomacy.


$24.5 billion 

The amount of money (alternatively, 177bn yuan) China has “provided and mobilised” for “other developing countries” to address climate change since 2016, according to Chinese executive vice-premier and politburo standing committee member Ding Xuexiang in his COP29 address, using UN-speak for climate finance “provided and mobilised” for the first time. It is not clear how this figure, which is lower than other recent estimates of China’s climate finance provision, was calculated.


New science 

The 2024 China report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: launching a new low-carbon, healthy journey
The Lancet Public Health 

A new report found that “China is faced with an increase in health threats from hot and dry weather conditions, such as heatwaves, droughts, and wildfires”, with the country seeing an average of 16 heatwave exposure days per person in 2023, which “resulted in a 1.9 times surge in heatwave-related deaths”. This is the Lancet’s fifth annual China report. Zhang Shihui, co-first author of the research, told Carbon Brief at COP29 that they noticed China’s action on talking climate-related health problems has become more systematic, but there is still an “urgent need to increase funding, actively promote synergistic governance for pollution reduction and carbon emission abatement, strengthen interdepartmental collaboration, and enhance refined health meteorological services”.

Inequality in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions intensity has risen in rural China from 1993 to 2020
Nature Food

A new study found that the greenhouse gas emissions intensity (GEI) – defined as GHG emissions per unit planting size – in crop production in rural China is falling, but that the inequality in GEI is increasing. The authors used survey data taken from more than 430,000 farming households over 1993-2020 to explore the driving forces of GEI in crop production. They found that overall GEI increased until 2015 and then began dropping, but that inequality in GEI continued to increase 13%.

Fewer than 15% of coal power plant workers in China can easily shift to green jobs by 2060
One Earth

Fewer than 15% of coal power plant workers in China will be able to easily access “green jobs” by 2060, according to new research. The study found that difficulties stand in the way of this transition, such as workers travelling long distances to access “green” job opportunities. The transition rate could be even lower in provinces dominated by coal power, the research found, with just 2% of workers making the move in Shandong province, for example.

China Briefing is compiled by Wanyuan Song and Anika Patel. It is edited by Wanyuan Song and Dr Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org

The post China Briefing 14 November 2024: COP29 special edition appeared first on Carbon Brief.

China Briefing 14 November 2024: COP29 special edition

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When taps run dry in the Caribbean, it’s not enough to blame El Niño

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Amira Odeh Quiñones is a hydrologist and Caribbean organiser for the 350.org climate campaign group

El Niño, likely to be one of the strongest in modern history, has arrived on Caribbean shores.

Drought is slowly creeping up on our islands. But unlike the fiery wildfires ravaging parts of Europe, there’s no smoke signalling the damage being done, no sirens to warn of the danger. Only announcements from public health officials to stay indoors and remain hydrated — as if outdoor workers and farming communities have the luxury to heed such advice.

During El Niño, strong atmospheric winds alter rain patterns and trap heat across the Caribbean. But while we have experienced El Niño many times before, it has become very visible in recent years how climate change is making this natural phenomenon worse.

Across the Greater Antilles, temperatures are soaring past 38°C (100°F), with real-feel indexes reaching a gruelling 43°C in parts of Puerto Rico where I live. Cuba has it worse. Widespread power outages mean that methods for cooling down are unavailable for most of the day, leaving millions of vulnerable people at risk of heat stroke when temperatures hit 38°C.

Santa Marta coalition tested as co-chair Colombia turns back to fossil fuels

During the last strong drought a decade ago, I had water only two days a week in my home. Today, there are many families whose taps are about to run completely dry. Water authorities have already begun strict rationing in some municipalities, with more on the list scheduled for rationing if conditions don’t change.

Water rationing is far more than an inconvenience; it is an immediate health risk. This means thousands of people need to constantly haul heavy buckets up flights of stairs just so they could bathe, cook, stay hydrated – the basics of survival.

Heat causes health problems

Puerto Rico is home to roughly 300,000 elderly residents. Many live alone, isolated and without support. They risk severe physical injury when carrying heavy water containers, and are wont to suffer from silent heat exhaustion in unventilated rooms.

Furthermore, when water shortages force residents to store water in open household containers, it inadvertently creates breeding grounds for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Paired with scorching temperatures that tend to shorten the mosquito breeding cycle, the region is facing explosive outbreaks of dengue fever that endanger our most vulnerable: children and the elderly.

The economic fallout is equally devastating. Dry fields mean millions of dollars in lost crops, forcing small agricultural businesses to collapse, needing urgent government relief to survive. Extreme fuel shortages have already paralyzed Cuba’s agricultural sector, cutting food output by 60% – the El Niño dry spell threatens to decimate it.

At sea, warmer ocean waters fuel massive influxes of sargassum seaweed. Rotting sargassum chokes our beaches, destroying the local tourism industry that so many working families rely on. Tangled seaweed also damages nets and boat engines, slashing fish catches and driving up equipment costs for local fishers.

In the south of Puerto Rico, the coastal town of La Parguera is currently witnessing a historic amount of sargassum on its shores. This has halted most of the boating activity in the area, which is the seaside town’s main tourist draw and economic driver.

All over the Caribbean, from town halls to local group gatherings, the story I hear is always the same: constant headaches, lost work hours, failing health, and a sense that quality of life is silently being stolen. The compounding effects of heatwaves, drought, and marine destruction are exhausting our people, our islands.

Climate change to blame

Climate change makes each El Niño year hotter and more damaging. Higher baseline global temperatures increase the energy and moisture available for extreme weather. Latest projections show that El Niño may push the monthly global average temperature past 2°C of warming for the first time in early 2027. In the Caribbean islands, that will not just be breaking records – it’ll be breaking lives.

Recently, I had the opportunity to share a panel with climate scientists behind what is known as the field of “attribution science” – or the science that compares today’s climate conditions to what the Earth’s climate would be like without human activity, particularly burning fossil fuels. They’re unequivocal: it’s no longer a question of whether extreme weather is caused by climate change, it’s just a question of how much.

    Attribution science recently got a boost from the U.S.’ top scientific advisory body. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recognized that researchers’ methods have advanced considerably in recent years, resulting in better assessments on how much extreme weather can be attributed to human-caused climate change. It noted that attribution findings could be relevant in some types of legal cases, including those seeking damages from oil companies for climate impacts.

    This crisis, which is already taking a heavy toll on our communities’ survival, needs real, urgent, and structural action that goes beyond aid. With similar droughts now gripping parts of Asia and Africa, we’re falling into the familiar narrative of treating the looming humanitarian crisis as if no one was to blame, as if it is being caused solely by a natural phenomenon we can’t control.

    It’s not. The world was already on fire before its regular visitor, El Niño, came. While we need humanitarian action, we need climate action too, in order to permanently put out the flames.

    The post When taps run dry in the Caribbean, it’s not enough to blame El Niño appeared first on Climate Home News.

    When taps run dry in the Caribbean, it’s not enough to blame El Niño

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    Q&A: What is in China’s new five-year plan for climate change?

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    China has released a five-year plan dedicated to addressing climate change.

    The 15th five-year plan for a national response to climate change is the latest in a series to outline in-depth climate and energy targets for the 2026-2030 period.

    These include five-year plans for “building a Beautiful China”, developing a “new-type energy system” and developing renewable energy.

    There are also separate “action plans” for the 2026-2030 period, such as for peaking carbon emissions

    China has pledged to peak its emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality before 2060.

    The new plan does not include any major new targets, instead consolidating and reaffirming existing policies.

    Nevertheless, it includes significant signals on key policy areas, such as non-carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gases, global climate governance and carbon markets.

    Below, Carbon Brief examines some of the notable elements in the latest five-year plan and what it reveals about China’s policy direction through to 2030.

    What does the climate plan cover?

    The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) released the plan in late July, in unison with 18 other government departments. These include the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planning agency, and the National Energy Administration.

    The document covers a range of topics, including CO2 emissions, other greenhouse gases (non-CO2 GHGs), carbon markets, carbon footprints, climate adaptation and international cooperation on climate change.

    For the first time at the five-year plan level, the plan creates a comprehensive target system covering all areas of climate policy, say officials in a MEE Q&A.

    They describe it as “the main policy instrument” for advancing China’s climate action during 2026-2030.

    China rarely issues high-level multi-year policies dedicated to “responding to climate change”. In 2014, the NDRC published a plan on the topic running through to 2020, but this was not linked to a five-year plan period.

    Qin Yan, principal analyst at ClearBlue Markets, tells Carbon Brief that the plan shows that China’s climate governance has reached “an unprecedented strategic level”.

    She adds that the plan creates an “all-encompassing target system” to support China’s Paris Agreement climate pledges for 2030 and 2035.

    In its 2030 pledge, China aimed to peak emissions “before 2030” and reduce carbon intensity – its emissions per unit of GDP – by more than 65% from 2005 levels.

    Last year, president Xi Jinping personally announced China’s 2035 pledge to cut China’s greenhouse gas emissions to 7-10% below peak levels by 2035, while “striving to do better”.

    The five-year plan marks a new phase in China’s climate policy, according to researchers at CIB Research, an economic research body affiliated with the Industrial Bank, whose largest shareholder is the Fujian provincial government.

    Their analysis adds that the plan represents a broad effort to strengthen China’s climate-governance system, implementation mechanisms and underlying capacity.

    Nevertheless, several headline targets and policies in the document simply reiterate already established plans.

    These include:

    • Cutting carbon intensity by 17% across the five years
    • Reducing carbon intensity per product in industries under China’s carbon market by 3%
    • Substituting fossil fuels with renewables
    • Strengthening climate adaptation
    • Supporting the “free flow” of cleantech

    What does the plan say about non-CO2 GHGs?

    The plan also goes into detail on China’s approach to non-CO2 GHGs. This includes reaffirming a target of an emissions “reduction capacity” from these gases totalling 30m tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) by 2030, although the baseline is unclear.

    The target previously appeared in the overarching five-year plan, as well as the plan for building a “Beautiful China”.

    The goal refers to emissions reductions, which can be realised through implementing current non-CO2 emissions reduction policies and projects, says Chen Meian, programme director and senior analyst at the Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress (iGDP). 

    She adds that it is “relatively achievable”, with sources including increasing the number of coal-mine methane utilisation projects.

    She points to an MEE explanatory note for a draft methodology under the China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) scheme, China’s voluntary carbon-credit market. Chen says the note suggests that projects using ventilation air methane and coal-mine methane with concentrations below 8% alone could deliver around 20MtCO2e of reduction by 2030.

    The note states that, currently, such projects are estimated to be able to “generate annual emission reductions of approximately 4.5MtCO2e”.

    In addition, Chen says, measures targeting industrial nitrous oxide (N2O) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) could help make up the remainder needed to meet the target.

    According to iGDP analysis of biennial reports submitted by China to the UNFCCC, China emitted around 14,000MtCO2e of GHGs in 2021, excluding land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).

    Non-CO2 GHGs accounted for around 2,700MtCO2e, or 19%, of the total, the majority of which was methane, as shown in the figure below.

    Methane is China’s main source of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions by gas, MtCO2e. Stacked bar chart from 2005 to 2021 showing total emissions rising to over 2,700 MtCO2e. Methane consistently accounts for the largest share, followed by Nitrous Oxide and F-gases. Source: iGDP analysis of China’s first Biennial Transparency Report and fourth Biennial Update Report - (alt text generated by Google Gemini)
    iGDP analysis of China’s first Biennial Transparency Report and fourth Biennial Update Report.

    China’s plans to curb these super-pollutants in the five-year period include coal-mine methane utilisation projects, end-of-pipe destruction technologies for HFCs and guidance on the use of catalysts to reduce N2O emissions.

    The plan also calls for the recovery and replacement of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) in power equipment.

    For Chen, the plan’s focus on SF6 control is particularly noteworthy. She says the gas is “finally receiving policy attention” and that proactive action is “timely and will help avoid future emissions growth” as China’s power system expands.

    What does the plan say about global climate governance?

    One of the plan’s clearest objectives for international cooperation is for China to play a more active role in global climate governance.

    By 2030, it says China should markedly increase its “influence, guiding power, shaping power and moral appeal” in this area.

    It says China’s climate action could also feed into the Global Governance Initiative, a policy initiative aimed at reforming the global governance system.

    China will also aim to “build a new narrative on climate governance”, it adds.

    Prof Thomas Hale, a professor in public policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, writes on LinkedIn that the plan “marks a major rhetorical shift” towards China being increasingly willing to “lead and shape” global climate action.

    Another clear focal point for international cooperation is in carbon markets.

    The plan calls for China to expand the global influence of its carbon market, such as through international rule-setting, cooperation on standards and by hosting the China Carbon Market Conference.

    Qin says China’s more active role in global carbon pricing is already evident in the launch of the open coalition on compliance carbon markets with the EU and Brazil. This coalition is expected to adopt a work plan at the China Carbon Market Conference in September.

    Qin also notes that China “could become the world’s largest [carbon] offset buyer” as its energy transition progresses.

    The country would, therefore, “benefit from helping shape global rules under the Article 6 framework [for carbon trading under the Paris Agreement]”, she adds.

    The post Q&A: What is in China’s new five-year plan for climate change? appeared first on Carbon Brief.

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    Quarter of countries still missing UN climate plans 18 months after deadline

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    About a quarter of the countries signed up to the Paris Agreement are still breaching its rules by failing to submit a new national climate plan, 18 months after the February 2025 deadline.

    Forty-five nations had not submitted a plan known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC), according to the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee’s (PAICC) newly-published report of its 7-10 July 2026 meeting. One, Oman, has published it since the meeting.

    Twelve countries ignored the committee’s repeated attempts to find out why they had not yet produced a climate plan, the report said. They will be invited to the committee’s next meeting, from September 1-4, so it can identify the challenges and constraints they face.

    Members of the committee are divided, as they were at their last meeting, on whether to name those countries publicly and will debate the question again in September.

    The PAICC does not have any power to punish governments, as building these powers into the Paris Agreement was thought to be so controversial that it could have stopped some governments from joining, experts have previously told Climate Home News.

    A key requirement of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement is that governments publish a more ambitious NDC every five years, setting targets to reduce their planet-heating emissions and outlining their policies to adapt to climate change, in order to meet the accord’s goals on limiting global warming and protecting people from its effects.

    The latest set – the third round of plans, with new targets for 2035 – was due in 2025.

    Some medium-sized emitters

    Countries without an updated NDC include Egypt, Vietnam, Argentina and the Phillippines, all of which rank among the world’s 40 largest greenhouse gas emitters. The rest of the countries are smaller, poorer nations, with many in Africa or the Caribbean.

    Some nations have argued that they cannot put together an NDC – which requires a significant amount of work in tracking emissions and consulting on how to curb them across the economy – because of exceptional circumstances. For example, a letter from a Sudanese official to the PAICC committee, seen by Climate Home News, says that the country’s civil war has led to the suspension of its NDC preparation.

      The US and Iran are not signed up to the Paris Agreement, although the US submitted a 2035 NDC under the Biden administration before Donald Trump pulled the US out of the UN climate accords.

      The committee also expressed concern that the UN’s NDC registry continued to label the climate plans of countries that are no longer party to the Paris Agreement as “active”, according to its report. The US submission has since been archived.

      Since the last PAICC meeting in March, ten countries have published NDCs. The committee did not name them but they include India, Algeria, Cameroon and Guyana.

      The post Quarter of countries still missing UN climate plans 18 months after deadline appeared first on Climate Home News.

      Quarter of countries still missing UN climate plans 18 months after deadline

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