China Could Lead Climate Fight if U.S. Drops Out

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China could become the leader of the global fight to slow down climate change if the United States backs down under President Donald Trump, South Africa’s Minister of Environment, Dion George, told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Friday.

“That’s the big debate that is going on,” George said, referring to China’s reluctance so far to finance climate change mitigation measures in poorer countries. China has said that as a developing country itself it shouldn’t be held accountable for climate finance.

However, “The developed economy countries certainly believe that China should be contributing,” the South African minister told Bloomberg.

“If it’s going to be the superpower, the global superpower that it may aspire to be, then” it needs to show some leadership, he added.

China is the world’s biggest polluter and the global fight against rising temperatures depends a lot on Chinese energy and climate policies.

The pace at which China will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions will be critical to reaching the global targets to fight climate change, Germany’s climate envoy said earlier this year.

Germany has recently established a Climate and Transformation Dialogue with China to work on ways to accelerate the energy transition to keep the 1.5-degree target within reach.

China is a global leader in renewable energy investment and capacity installations. But it is also the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and continues to approve coal-fired power generation to meet its rising electricity demand without compromising energy security.

China has yet to see its carbon dioxide emissions peak as it is a developing nation and has a massive population.

“We should not forget that China is still a developing country, pursuing modernization for a huge population,” the head of law and institutional reform at the National Energy Administration (NEA), Song Wen, told media at the end of August.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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