SCIO briefing on China's Policies and Actions on Climate Change

Reuters:

I have two questions about the Paris Climate Change Conference. Will it be affected by the recent terrorist attacks? Will China take further actions or will there be any form of compromise to make the conference successful? Will China's climate target be changed or not?

Xie Zhenhua:

After the terrorist attacks, Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister and chairman of the Paris Climate Change Conference, said it would be held as scheduled. This year's climate summit is a very important international event with great meaning for international cooperation to combat climate change. As I have said, we hope the conference will be a milestone in combating global climate change, which makes it very important. It is the common desire of people all around the world to see positive results and solid agreements at the summit. The Chinese delegation has been formed and we had a preparatory meeting yesterday. The delegation is well prepared. We will attend the summit as planned. We hope that all countries work together to make it a success.

China will, under any circumstances, fulfill its INDC pledge. The Chinese government and the Chinese people will keep their word. Once we make a promise and set a target, we will carry it through no matter what challenges we face. We will not change our target for whatever reasons.

Maybe what you really want to ask is, will China pledge to do more? Actually, the target we have set is the result of a two-year analysis factoring in all socio-economic sectors and all aspects. It is scientific and it is mature. So, we have confidence we can attain our target. However, if we raise our target, we have to make additional efforts. First of all, there must be technological innovation, without which it is very hard to change our goals. So, we hope to establish a motivational mechanism to drive global efforts. The key is technological innovation once the target is set. It is very difficult to raise our target if we just make use of traditional technologies to deal with climate change independently. Therefore, it is very important for developed countries to provide money, technological support and technology transfers. We will not change our target in this regard, but we will try to do more. Just as I have said, we will achieve our target by around 2030. With efforts, we will peak emissions as early as possible. That's what we are working hard to achieve. Thank you.