China
has 'duty to humanity' to curb pollution, premier says
Li
Keqiang says Chinese economic model is ‘unsustainable’ and it
must cut energy use, but does not outline specific measures
Agence France-Presse
Wednesday 4 November
2015 06.00 GMT
China has used up
too much energy and too many resources in its quest for growth,
premier Li Keqiang has told visiting French president François
Hollande, adding that the country has a “duty to humanity” to
clean itself up.
Li’s comments come
ahead of a UN climate summit in Paris, which will seek to unite all
the world’s nations in a single agreement on tackling climate
change.
Hollande said in a
radio interview the summit’s success was “possible, not certain”,
with some issues still to be settled.
As the world’s
largest polluter, China will be a key player at the event, in the
face of disputes over whether developed or developing countries
should bear more of the burden for reducing emissions.
Li said more
environmentally-friendly development would be “obligatory” for
China to “promote a restructuring of its national economy”,
currently experiencing its slowest growth in years.
The shift was
China’s “duty and a contribution to humanity” as one of the
world’s largest countries, he added.
China’s
decades-long boom, which has propelled it to global prominence,
largely depended on heavy industry, real estate and infrastructure
investment. But growth has slowed in recent years and now stands at
its lowest since the global financial crisis, according to official
figures.
“For a great many
years, we consumed too much energy and resources to achieve our
development, and this model has since become unsustainable,” Li
said, adding that China must now rely more on developing its human
resources.
But he did not cite
any specific measures it would take.
On Monday China and
France issued a joint declaration on climate change saying that the
Paris accord – intended to cap warming at two degrees Celsius over
pre-industrial revolution levels – should include checks for
compliance.
Each signatory’s
progress should be reviewed every five years, the statement said, to
“build mutual trust and confidence and promote effective
implementation”.
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Hollande called the
declaration a “historic” step forward, and on Tuesday, the final
day of his two-day trip, urged Beijing to “discuss with and
convince a number of countries known to be vital” to the
negotiation process.
“When China is
committed, it of course commits itself, but it is an example, a
benchmark.”
In comments to
Europe1 radio during his visit to China, Hollande said there “are
still a few issues that have to be settled” before the Paris talks.
“Yes, failure is
still possible, but today I am confident,” he said.
The UN summit, held
from 30 November 30 to 11 December, will be opened by world leaders,
including US president Barack Obama, China’s Xi Jinping and
Narendra Modi of India.
Hollande said it was
encouraging that major emitters such as China and the United States,
as well as developing nations, were all deeply engaged in the
notoriously combative negotiating process.
Asked if he thought
the conference would be a success, he said: “It is possible, not
certain.”
Among the key points
still in dispute, he cited $100bn (€91bn) in annual climate finance
that rich nations had promised for developing countries from 2020.
Some $65bn has been
secured and another $20bn promised, said Hollande, but “we are not
yet at $100bn”.
A recent report by
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said a
total of $62bn was paid in climate aid in 2014.
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Rich nations say
this indicates progress towards the $100bn goal for 2020, while
developing countries say the figure is not a useful measure.
China is an
important member of the largest negotiating bloc, the G77 group of
developing nations, which insists that rich nations must bear more
responsibility for cutting emissions since they have been polluting
for longer.
Developed nations
point the finger, in turn, at emerging giants such as China and
India, which burn massive amounts of fossil fuel to power their
fast-growing economies and populations.
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