On Wednesday, China dismissed reports that it obstructed discussions on tackling climate change at G20 meetings in India last week.
After three days of discussions regarding lowering emissions and the dependence on fossil fuel use, as well as extending climate finance to help poorer nations transition to clean energy, the group failed to issue a joint communique or deliver any new pledges.
Allegations
Members of a European delegation said that China and Saudi Arabia had refused to make commitments at the meetings.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, Virginijus Sinkevicius, the EU’s Environment Commissioner, said that some countries had tried to regress from previous climate pledges — a move he said Europe could not stand by.
“We were asked to make bold choices, to demonstrate courage, commitment and leadership. But we, collectively, failed to achieve that. We cannot be driven by the lowest common denominator, or by narrow national interests. We cannot allow the pace of change to be set by the slowest movers in the room,” he said.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s Remarks on the #G20 Environment and Climate Ministers’ Meeting #FMsayshttps://t.co/xdgqKjVIMg pic.twitter.com/sksvXhze42
— Mission of China to the EU (@ChinaEUMission) August 2, 2023
Chinese Response
In a statement issued on Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry called the allegations “completely inconsistent with the facts.”
It alleged that the meeting had failed to adopt a communiqué, as “some countries introduced geopolitical issues as an obstruction.”
Beijing urged “developed countries” to take their “capabilities, responsibility and obligations in climate response…seriously,” and “increase emissions reduction… provide climate funding and technology transfer to developing countries, and stop such acts that affect and undermine global climate response as adopting unilateral measures, decoupling, severing industrial chains and erecting trade barriers.”
Additionally, China touted its leadership in “advancing global climate governance” and putting in place “the biggest clean power generation system in the world.”
It added that it had “contributed a quarter of the world’s newly added green areas since 2000” and stated that it is “one of the fastest countries in terms of lowering energy intensity and our installed hydro, wind, and solar capacities all top the world.”
During the G20 Environment and Climate Ministers’ Meeting, the ministry said that China had:
“Worked to coordinate the interests of all parties, promoted the conclusion of a balanced text, advocated China’s vision of harmonious co-existence between man and nature and putting people front and centre, and called for avoidance of unwarranted discrimination or restriction to international trade caused by green economic policies.”
The news comes as China battles extreme rainfall in its northern regions, which has killed at least 20 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.