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CLIMATE CHANGE: China Rallying South to Defend Right to Development

Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, Jun 12 2009 (IPS) - As the December deadline for reaching a global climate deal in Copenhagen approaches, China is claiming leadership – rallying emerging economies to defend their rights to development and strike bargaining positions with rich nations.

While a string of U.S. top envoys have been visiting Beijing over recent weeks in attempt to negotiate a preliminary agreement with China that would lay the foundations for Copenhagen talks, in a first China has hosted climate change negotiators from the largest developing countries.

In late May envoys from Brazil, India and South Africa took part in a meeting titled "Towards Copenhagen: Developing Countries and Climate Change," organised by the Shanghai Institute for International Studies and attended by China’s climate change negotiator at the Foreign Ministry Yu Qingtai.

It is at that meeting that Yu first elaborated China’s position on climate change that diplomats meeting with U.S. negotiators on global warming this week have been repeating.

Yu spoke of the world’s "common but differentiated responsibilities" when it comes to actions to prevent climate change. He said China was acting according to its "national conditions," and considering the lack of international consensus on preventing climate change Beijing’s domestic efforts to reduce emissions were praiseworthy and "undeniable."

Yu also rallied developing nations to be "united" in facing the global warming challenge – giving priority to their right to develop and eradicate poverty.

"Without development, we will lose everything, including the ability to contribute to the global fight on climate change," Yu told delegates at the meeting.

The same line of thought underlies tense talks on climate policy held between Washington and Beijing this week. U.S. special climate envoy Todd Stern’s two-day visit to Beijing was perceived as aiming to press rapidly-growing China to commit to hard numbers on greenhouse gas emissions under the next global warming agreement.

But Vice-Premier Li Keqiang reasserted China’s insistence on "common but differentiated responsibilities" under which developed countries such as the U.S. would bear most of the responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Beijing has refused to accept a ceiling on greenhouse gas output. It argues that rich countries are the biggest culprits of global warming while they also have the means to fix the problem.

U.S. envoy Todd Stern told the China Daily at the end of his trip that the U.S. would not push China to adopt a mandatory cap on emissions "at this stage."

"We understand China’s paramount need to grow and develop for its people," he said. "Our demand is that the development with the available technologies is based on low carbon growth."

China’s stance on a future climate change agreement was outlined in a policy paper published May 21 in advance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) taking place in Copenhagen in December.

The document called for developed nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and to donate 0.5-1 percent of their GDP to help developing nations cope with the effects of climate change. The National Development and Reform Commission, which steers Chinese climate change policy, said any new agreement must ensure wealthy nations "take on quantified targets to drastically reduce emissions."

But mindful that some developing nations like sub-Saharan and island countries that are particularly vulnerable to the consequence of climate change could lean towards imposing mandatory targets for greenhouse gases reduction on the developing world, China has acted to prevent such actions.

In the same document Beijing took the lead at forming a united front of developing nations – pledging to increase its aid to developing countries most affected by global warming. The destruction of forests and the threat to island nations by rising seas were specifically mentioned.

An editorial in the China Business News on May 25 called on all developing nations to "stick together." "In this complicated international situation, staying firm together on climate change is vital for developing countries," it said. "And China, in particular, should lead that effort."

China and the U.S. are jointly responsible for more than 40 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. China’s emissions are outpacing that of the U.S., but Beijing argues that a large chunk of this is caused by export- driven manufacturing and has suggested that purchasing countries should be responsible for tackling those emissions.

Beijing is however, very much aware of the dangers climate change is posing to its future economic development.

The press highlights China’s vulnerability to water shortages, crop declines and sea level rise almost daily. Earlier this year northern China suffered its most severe drought since 1951. The State Oceanic Administration reports that in 2008 China’s coasts saw their biggest sea level rise ever, an average increase of 14 mm compared to 2007.

Without committing to mandatory caps on emissions, Chinese leaders have embarked on a series of unilateral measures to reduce the release of carbon dioxide – the gas believed to be most responsible for global warming. They have stepped up investment in renewable energy, creating a domestic fervour for wind and solar power. They have also committed to increasing the efficiency of their manufacturing, buildings and vehicles.

The latest measure – announced during the U.S. climate change envoy’s visit to Beijing – revised China’s original target of 15 percent renewable energy by 2020 to 20 percent over the same period.

But the U.S. says Beijing is still not doing enough.

"Even if every other country in the world cut its emissions by 80 percent by 2050… China’s business-as-usual emissions would cause global average temperatures to increase by 2.7 degrees centigrade," warned U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy David Sandalow earlier this week in a speech delivered in Beijing.

Beijing for its part, points the finger at the low targets set by some industrialised nations. China says the U.S. should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, but the bill presented to the U.S. Congress for deliberation calls for less than a 4 percent reduction over that period.

China has criticised Japan as well, saying its proposed cut of 15 percent by 2020 announced this week is inadequate. "According to my calculation, the new target amounts to only a 2 percentage point advance from Japan’s previous pledge in the first commitment period," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang told the press Thursday.

The Copenhagen agreement expected to be agreed in December will succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 industrial nations to cut their emissions by a total 5 percent from 1990 levels – but demanded nothing from developing nations. China has ratified the treaty. The U.S. has not. Two previous U.S. administrations rejected the treaty – arguing that without targets assigned to fast-expanding economies like China, India and Brazil, the treaty was useless.