Seeking a Climate Solution

By Yu Shujun

Tit-for-tat negotiations at this years UN Climate Change Conference recently concluded in Doha, Qatar, effectively reminded people about the Doha round of WTO talks; but unlike the fruitless trade talks, climate talks have a common ground of tackling humankinds biggest threat—climate change.

“Ambition” and “finance” are always the key words at climate talks. So it was in Doha. Developing countries urged developed countries to be more ambitious in emission reduction targets and assist them in finance, technology transfer and capacity building. Developed countries, on the other hand, called for equal participation over the long term.

As the largest developing economy, China sometimes is stuck in the middle. Some developed countries want to put binding targets on China, because it has become a major greenhouse gas emitter. However, the worlds second largest economy still has to lift 100 million people out of poverty.

“Even without the binding treaty, China is making a lot of efforts,” said Ban Kimoon, Secretary General of the United Nations, at a press conference in Doha on November 4.

Just before the Doha climate conference, ecological progress became an integral part of Chinas future development plan, together with economic, political, cultural and social progresses, in the then Party General Secretary Hu Jintaos report to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

China has already taken a lead in tackling climate change as a responsible developing country, said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Striking a balance

“Weve always maintained hope that the parties can achieve a balanced result that takes care of the common interests of humankind and addresses the realities and needs of different countries,” said Xie Zhenhua, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC) and head of the Chinese delegation to the UN climate conference.

The realities and needs of those different countries are precisely what heated up the negotiations in Doha.

What developing countries need most is the support from developed countries, especially financial support, which was the most controversial issue at the Doha climate talks.

The Copenhagen Accord in 2009 stated the collective commitment of developed countries to provide developing countries with the fast-start fund of $30 billion from 2010 to 2012 and also introduced the idea that developed countries will jointly mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 for developing countries.

The fast-start fund comes to an end and the long-term fund of $100 billion per year from 2013 to 2020 is still up in the air. Questions surrounding the funds have since arisen, touching on the transparency of the fast-start fund, whether the money has been paid, how it has been used, and when the long-term fund will be paid.

Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change, said that the overall amount for the donor countries is $30.6 billion, with around $7.5 billion from the United States.

But there is discrepancy in the exact totals. Xie said he heard about three figures: more than $30 billion, similar to the U.S. version, $26.3 billion and $13 billion, respectively.

To ensure the long-term fund, developing countries said at the Doha conference that they need at least $60 billion from 2013 to 2015 to deal with droughts, floods, rising seas and storms caused by climate change.

“We know that the United States and the EU are facing financial difficulties, so we propose the mid-term fund,” Xie said. “They should give a clear answer.”

Connie Hedegaard, EU Commissioner for Climate Action, said EU donors who are willing to continue giving money are also willing to give in the short term.

But in order to scale up to $100 billion a year, there is no way but through public money, said Hedegaard. The EU needs time to find out how they can leverage private financing through public money, or secure more private sources.

Stern said the United States will continue the long-term goal of mobilizing funding by 2020 in the context of mitigation and transparency.

While some developed countries agreed to continue providing money, whether midterm or long-term, developing countries are still in doubt.

“When it comes to political statements, developed countries are ready to support, but in terms of figures, they are not fulfilling their commitments,” said Larbi Djacta, Minister Counselor in charge of G77 of the Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations. G77 is the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the United Nations, in which Algeria currently holds the chairmanship position.

“The only thing developed countries have to do now is to fulfill their commitments, and the means of implementation is our biggest concern,” said Djacta.

The means of implementation, according to Djacta, refers to supporting developing countries financially, helping them in technology and enhancing their capacities, which could make it possible for them to adapt to the challenge of climate change and enable their capacities to face the adverse impact of climate change.

“We obviously need financial assistance, capacity building and technological assistance,” said Dr. Mariyam Shakeela, Minister of Environment and Energy of the Republic of Maldives. The country is one of the small island states that are most vulnerable to climate changes.

“Our infrastructure was not built to adapt and we need climate-resilient methods to build communities,” said Shakeela. “So we need the money and technology.”

But achieving a balanced result also means that China hopes that all previously agreed upon commitments before 2020 should be implemented, said Xie, head of the Chinese delegation.

On the basis of this result, China will provide and has provided some money to help developing countries through South-South cooperation, he said.

Facing a dilemma

While China has emerged as the worlds second largest economy, it has become the worlds largest carbon dioxide emitter, and its per-capita emission is around the worlds average level.

“In tackling climate change and seeking sustainable development, China is facing enormous challenges,” said Xie.

‘Were not surprised that emissions are rising significantly in China,” said Hedegaard.“Latest statistics weve seen show that actual emission levels are growing even more than its GDP is growing.”

The challenge for China is to try to decouple economic growth and growth in emissions, she said.

A countrys emission level will increase in tandem with economic growth, but when emission peaks, the level will remain stable for a period and then begin to drop, said Xie. It resembles an inverted U-shaped curve.

Developed countries emissions stopped increasing when their per-capita GDP reached $40,000-50,000, said Xie. “But Chinas per-capita GDP is only about $5,000 and Chinas emission is at the climbing stage.”

However, with efforts, Chinas emission can peak when its per-capita GDP is only half of the developed countries peak level, he said.

In Doha, U.S. climate envoy Stern also rejected the current division of developing and developed countries, which implies differentiated responsibilities.

“While there certainly needs to be differentiation between countries, differentiation should be built on a countrys national circumstances and capabilities, but not built on an ideology that says were going to draw a line down the middle of the world,” said Stern, indicating a challenge to Chinas status as a developing country.

“China is still a developing country. It has to feed more than 1 billion Chinese and it has hundreds of millions of poor people,” said Djacta.

Other emerging economies including Brazil, South Africa and India, which together with China are called BASIC countries, are facing the same pressure.

Djacta also said that the number of poor people in India or Brazil is two or three times that of the UK or France.

Fulfilling commitments

“We will not follow the past development model of developed countries and cant delay decreasing our emissions until our per-capita GDP reaches $50,000,” said Xie.

Without developed countries financial and technological support, China has made its commitment to cutting carbon dioxide emission per 10,000-yuan ($1,605) GDP by 40-45 percent in 2020 from 2005. This target is much more ambitious than many developed countries.

In its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), the Chinese Government set the goals of cutting energy consumption per 10,000-yuan GDP by 16 percent and carbon dioxide emission per 10,000-yuan GDP by 17 percent, and raising the proportion of non-fossil fuel energy consumption to 11.4 percent.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) period, energy consumption per 10,000-yuan GDP dropped by 19.1 percent. The index dropped by 2.1 percent in 2011 and 3.4 percent from January to September 2012, according to Xie. He estimated that carbon dioxide emission per 10,000-yuan GDP will drop by 5 percent this year.

To seek sustainable development, China is restructuring its industry by strictly limiting projects with high energy consumption, high pollutant emissions or excess capacity and eliminating outdated capacities. Although these efforts will erode economic growth, the government still spares no effort and has actually lowered its economic growth target in the 12th Five-Year Plan.

Energy-saving and new energy industries have been set among the countrys strategic emerging industries, which are considered new growth engines for the countrys economy during the 12th FiveYear Plan period.

“We can see that actions are going on in China and climate change is perfected in the five-year plan,” said Hedegaard, EU Commissioner for Climate Action.

“The Chinese Government has been investing a lot in a smart way to diversify their sources of energy to mitigate and adapt by their own national government policies,” said Ban Ki-moon. “This is highly commendable.”

“China is successful in using green technology, like solar and wind power, to decrease the use of fossil fuels,” said Alexander Bedritsky, Special Envoy for Climate Affairs of the Russian Federation.

To mitigate the impact of climate change, China has been making efforts in increasing forest coverage and conserving grassland.

It has also launched low-carbon projects like transportation in many regions and initiated pilot programs for carbon emission trading in cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

“We appreciate that in China a concrete goal of targets has been set, analysis has been made, market mechanism is broadly used to help to fulfill the goals of decreasing climate change,” said Bedritsky.

Outside the country, China has helped other developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change through South-South cooperation.

“Were getting the largest help from China, not only in terms of the environment, but also for infrastructure,” said Shakeela, Maldives Minister of Environment and Energy.

The Chinese Government has pledged to earmark 200 million yuan ($31.7 million) to finance climate programs in Africa, the least developed countries and small island states in the next three years, said Xie.

Grenada, a small island country in the Caribbean, has increased its energy efficiency by 50 percent and saved $1 million in public spending by using energy-saving lamps donated by China, he said.

(Reporting from Doha, Qatar)

Non-Fossil Fuel Energy

Hydropower

Installed capacity:

230 million kw

Electricity generated:

66.26 billion kwh

Nuclear Power

Installed capacity:

12.57 million kw

Electricity generated:

86.9 billion kwh

Wind Power

Installed capacity:

65 million kw

Electricity generated:

80 billion kwh

Geothermal and Ocean Energy

Installed capacity:

24,200 kw and

6,000 kw

Electricity generated:

146 million kwh

Biomass Power

Installed capacity:

6 million kw

Electricity generated:

30 billion kwh

Solar Power

Installed capacity:

3 million kw