Chinese President Xi Jinping is not expected to attend COP27, although the country is said to have sent a delegation of more than 50 people to Egypt.
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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – Diplomatic tensions between the US and China are a major concern at the COP27 climate summit.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has called for a historic agreement – or “climate solidarity treaty” – between developed and emerging economies at the start of the leading climate conference.
The United States and China, the world’s two largest economies and leading emitters of greenhouse gases, “have a special responsibility to join efforts to make this pact a reality,” Guterres said today. Monday.
“This is our only hope for meeting our climate goals.”
However, many fear that tensions between Washington and Beijing could make climate cooperation at COP27 extremely difficult.
Carlos Pascual, Senior Vice President of Global Energy at S&P Global Commodity Insights, told CNBC that tensions between the US and China “will take a toll on the global security agenda, the main agenda climate program and treatment.”
The administration of US President Joe Biden in recent months has identified China as an even bigger threat than Russia in terms of National security strategyand the White House warning Beijing will stand to defend Taiwan if it is invaded.
For its part, China accuses the US of sending “very wrong signal, dangerous“on Taiwan after that visit in August by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Beijing also criticized a US Law aims to boost chip production in the US and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers.
For this context, Biden is expected to join The group consists of 16 members of senior officials at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt this weekend to “promote the global climate war. “
Chinese President Xi Jinping is not expected to attend the conference, although the country has reported sent a delegation of more than 50 people to the event.
“For developing and emerging economies, the perception is that if the world’s two largest emitters cannot agree and cannot work together to reduce emissions, the purpose of reduce their emissions because in relative terms it has a very small impact.” S&P’s Pascual said.
“One of the things that China has been very clear about is that for them the question of Taiwan is such an important and existential issue that if there is a conflict over Taiwan and there is a sense that the United States is pushing pushing China’s interests against China’s interests, that would overwhelm cooperation in all other areas,” he added. “It’s an extremely difficult and worrisome issue.”
The strained diplomatic relationship could even spill over into trade issues across Asia, Pascual added, noting that China is the main trading partner of almost every country in the region.
‘Collective responsibility’
Former United Nations climate director Patricia Espinosa told CNBC that, in the past, climate talks have benefited from the leadership of the United States and China, citing a surprise deal between Washington and Beijing to promote climate cooperation in Last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
“Personally, I hope that there might be a way… to restart cooperation between China and the US – even if it’s just about climate change. We said it’s just about climate change. climate change, but we know that climate change is really at the heart of everything in society.”
“It will be very, very important to restore it,” Espinosa said, however, she added that she did not expect this to happen in Sharm el-Sheikh.
“However, I hope that others can step up and take the lead in a place where currently, for very different reasons, these two great and great nations are not currently working together in the air. It’s not just up to them. It’s a collective responsibility,” she said.
Biden is expected to join a 16-member delegation of senior officials at COP27 later this week to “advance the global fight against climate.”
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US climate envoy John Kerry previously speak Washington is willing to hold climate talks with China and work together on “what is universal, global [and] problems exist. “
“And there is no solution to climate change without China, without Russia, without India, without… the big economies,” Kerry said.
A series of major United Nations reports published in recent weeks offer a stark assessment of how close the planet is to irreversible climate disruption, warning that there is “there is no reliable path“to limit global warming to a critical temperature threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
‘A very bleak outlook’
Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at the Climate Action Network, which includes more than 1,500 civil society groups, stressed that although the issues between the US and China are complex, the nations must put their political disagreements aside when it comes to climate. .
“The US is the biggest emitter in history and China is the biggest emitter today, if they come together and say we’re going to work in harmony, that would send a very positive signal. And we need such a signal because we Singh speak.
“Time is ticking, and such partnerships will encourage others to do more and really tackle the climate crisis.”
