Brazil Says Climate Goals Should Recognize China’s Contributions
(Bloomberg) -- Brazil wants the world to recognize China’s technological contribution to the fight against climate change as countries prepare for high-stakes negotiations at the United Nations COP30 summit in November.
The metrics used to assess climate efforts should account for China’s role in advancing green technologies, Environment Minister Marina Silva said during an interview, striking a conciliatory tone toward its biggest trading partner, which is also the world’s top polluter.
China’s adoption of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles have helped lower the costs of those technologies, improving their viability, Silva said in New York, where she’s attending the UN General Assembly. “It’s a huge contribution.”
Silva’s comments come at a time when Brazil, hosting the COP30 summit in the Amazonian city of Belem, is struggling to get countries to commit to new climate goals.
Only 36 of the 195 Paris Agreement signatories have announced new emissions plans, known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs. With the US withdrawing from the accord, China has indicated it will commit to more stringent curbs on greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, but it’s yet to present its NDC.
Despite China’s global leadership in rolling out electric vehicles and solar panels, its economy still depends heavily on fossil fuels to power its energy-hungry economy. President Xi Jinping has pledged deeper emissions cuts that would cover the entire economy and all greenhouse gases. China is widely expected to unveil its much-anticipated its NDCs this week.
“Perhaps we need to consider other metrics to assess China’s contribution — not only its emissions reductions, but also its role as a country of over 1.3 billion people,” Silva said. “Since Paris, despite the challenges I mentioned around renewable energy, China has made significant efforts, including on reforestation.”
Silva lamented President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement, saying the strategic importance of the US in the fight against climate change is “undeniable.” The White House’s actions are trickling across the private sector, discouraging green investment worldwide, she added.
“That increases our responsibility — South Africa, India, Brazil, the European Union, China — to keep this denialist gravitational force from going beyond the loss that’s already too big due to the US withdrawal,” said Silva.
Silva acknowledged that global efforts to tackle the climate crisis are falling short of the goals countries have committed to. She said Brazil is pushing for a “coalition of high commitment” to strengthen ambition and ensure NDCs are reviewed and updated earlier than every five years, and said rich nations should accelerate their decarbonization timelines.
“It’s necessary that we take a clinical approach, an intervention to combat not only its symptoms but also its causes,” she said, adding that this includes boosting the production of clean energy threefold, doubling energy efficiency and transitioning away from fossil fuels.
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