Essay by Eric Worrall
China’s Communist mouthpiece Global Times has accused the West, and in particular the United States, of poisoning and politicizing global climate cooperation.
Western countries promise on climate change; The US poisons global cooperation by politicizing the problem
By GT staff reporters Published: August 26, 2022 12:41 am
Record heat waves, coupled with an energy crisis in part caused by the US-initiated Russia-Ukraine crisis, have forced some European countries to fall back on their climate goals. Meanwhile, in the US, one of the world’s largest emitters, climate change has become an issue for partisan struggle, and most recently, the subject of bringing down China after the North Kinh suspended communication on this issue with the US after the provocation of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. visit the island of Taiwan.
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In the latest case, the city of Copenhagen has abandoned its long-term goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025. “As it stands now, we cannot achieve our ambitious climate goal.” The head of the city’s engineering and environment department elected the Commission, Line Barfoed, told Danish media on Monday.
The Danish city’s decision comes after a number of European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have or are planning to return to using coal for power generation, after they felt the pressure from the energy crisis then the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, and added insult to injury, Europe’s worst drought in 500 years.
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Meanwhile, China is steadily moving towards carbon neutrality.
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Read more: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1273929.shtml
A lot of what the CCP has said on this occasion is true, in my opinion, except for the part about China taking climate action seriously.
If climate action is a priority for China’s leaders, in my view, they won’t build as many coal plants, and they won’t use the Taiwan dispute as an excuse to suspend negotiations. The CCP has accepted John Kerry’s plea to keep the climate talks disconnected from other political issues.
A piece of silver for this mess, as global climate cooperation dissolves into a desperate Western scramble for coal and gas, and a bitter geopolitical point between China and the United States, a day when even No one is pretending to take climate action seriously is coming closer than ever.
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