The U.S.-sponsored Climate Change Leadership Video Summit was held on the 22nd.
The U.S.-sponsored Climate Change Leadership Video Summit was held on 22nd. The U.S. and Chinese leaders each spoke at the summit. Biden announced the goal of halving carbon emissions by 2030. Xi Jinping reiterated the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060. Some British media said the summit turned into a bragging session for the leaders.
The Central News Agency (CNA) reported on April 22 that a two-day video summit of climate change leaders was held in the morning, with leaders of 40 countries and international organizations from around the world attending to discuss how to face the climate change crisis.
It was the first major international leaders’ summit hosted by Biden since he took office, and was attended by Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.
Sky News said the leaders at the summit were each “bragging” about their climate achievements and ambitious plans.
Putin said at the summit that Russia is doing more to reduce greenhouse gases than most countries and that 45 percent of their energy is low-emission energy.
Modi told the summit that India’s lifestyle has enabled the country to have a carbon footprint 60 percent lower than the global average.
Johnson reiterated the recently announced target, which is to reduce UK emissions by 78 percent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. He also said that the UK is doing as much as the US.
For his part, Biden announced at the summit that by 2030, the U.S. will reduce carbon emissions by 50-52 percent from 2005 levels; and by 2050, the U.S. will be carbon neutral. Almost twice the previous commitment.
Biden also said that no country can face the climate crisis alone. The United States, as a country with less than 15 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, also called on all countries to show determination and concrete action before it’s too late.
For his part, Xi said China looks forward to working with the international community, including the U.S., to advance global environmental governance. He also said that the CPC strives to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
Xi also stressed that China’s commitment to achieve carbon peak to carbon neutral in a much shorter time than that used by developed countries will require hard work on China’s part.
After the summit, the Chinese Communist Party’s Xinhua News Agency issued the full text of the message, but Xi Jinping called on countries to “work together, not to blame each other; to be persistent, not to change overnight; to keep their promises, not to fail to keep their word.” Such a speech.
However, Xi Jinping did not say this in his speech. Radio Free Asia said that the content of the Xinhua transcript, which Xi did not say, is indicative of the Chinese Communist Party’s willingness to be the “world’s teacher” on climate issues on which the U.S. and China can cooperate.
Bonnie Glaser, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Asia program, said: “The Chinese Communist Party continues to blame the United States for the deterioration of U.S.-China relations, and portrays itself as a model of global governance and a supporter of multilateralism and globalization, even if the two countries cooperate on climate issues. The “strategic competition” will continue even if the two countries cooperate on climate issues.
Jennifer Turner, director of the environmental program at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank that has long been concerned about U.S.-China climate cooperation, said that while the Chinese Communist Party may have met its commitments under the Paris Agreement, 80 percent of its “Belt and Road” investments are in coal and oil, using cheaper and less clean coal-fired power. The United States is a major player in the global coal and oil industry, using cheaper and cleaner coal-fired power generation rather than “clean coal.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Fox Business Tonight that from experience, the Chinese Communist Party is never willing to fulfill any of the commitments made at the summit.
Pompeo said, “Over the years, they’ve broken more promises.” “We need to see real action. …… not what they said at the summit.” “I was hoping that the CPC would reverse its polluting course, but there is no reason to believe that this is indeed the case.”
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