Sunday

1st Oct 2023

Hollande secures climate pact in China

  • Xi and Hollande announced they would aim for an 'ambitious and legally binding' climate deal in Paris (Photo: Meg Chang)

French president Francois Hollande scored some points with environmentalists on behalf of Europe on Monday (2 November), as he and Chinese president Xi Jinping came out with a declaration on climate change that sees China moving somewhat in Europe's direction.

China agreed that a global climate deal, which countries will seek to clinch at a conference in Paris later this year, should include a review mechanism.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

China and France "are in favour of a comprehensive review to take place every five years to assess the progress made towards the agreed long-term objectives", a statement released by the Elysee said.

While the declaration did not specifically say so, according to Hollande the review would provide "the necessary upward revision of the national pledges every five years".

The declaration called for 'Paris' to yield an "ambitious and legally binding" deal, which keeps the earth's temperature rise limited to no more than two degrees Celsius. It also noted that both countries see the importance of supporting developing countries financially in sustainable development and climate resilience.

"What we have just established here in this declaration is a likelihood that the Paris conference will succeed", Hollande said according to international media.

"That doesn't mean that the Paris conference is definitely going to be a success, but the conditions for success have been laid down in Beijing today", he added.

The French leader said his visit to China was "historic, and I weigh my words".

The Paris climate change conference will commence in four weeks, on Monday 30 November, with a mini-summit of world leaders including Xi. A deal is hoped to have been achieved by the end of the two weeks of talks.

The Sino-French deal, presented during Hollande's visit to Beijing, brings to mind the US-China agreement announced in the same month last year, which injected some much-needed optimism in the world of climate talks.

China is the world's largest polluter in absolute terms, so any international climate deal will need its cooperation to succeed.

'Encouraging'

The EU's climate commissioner, Miguel Arias Canete, said in a social media message the declaration was a "very important step forward on the way to an ambitious deal in Paris".

According to NGO Climate Action Network Europe (CAN), the news from Beijing shows China "no longer hides behind its developing country status".

"It is encouraging to see that China is willing to take on commitments to reduce its emissions and financially support poor countries in their efforts to tackle climate change", the NGO told this website in an e-mailed comment.

Greenpeace too was cautiously optimistic.

Its China climate campaigner Li Shuo, called it "encouraging to see the ball rolling and diplomacy nudging us a small step forward".

"Moreover, with the recent decline in coal consumption and robust renewable energy development, China is positioning itself at the front of climate leadership. This is drastically different from six years ago in Copenhagen", said Li in a press release.

The idea behind including a review mechanism is that the Paris deal will not be the fix-all of the entire climate issue, but rather a starting point. That would avoid locking countries into an emissions reduction path that cannot be accelerated if necessary.

"I have no doubt there will be an agreement in Paris. The question is: how often will it be reviewed", an industry source who has followed climate talks for two decades said recently.

"If we don't have a review, we won't increase ambition", he added.

Last Friday, UN climate chief Christina Figueres said that the current nationally decided pledges are not enough to stay under the threshold of two degrees Celsius, but added that she was optimistic of the state of climate talks compared to before the bottom-up approach was adopted.

EU agrees common position for climate summit

Environment ministers agreed to demand a 50% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 and a review mechanism in case of an agreement at the upcoming climate conference in Paris.

IEA says: Go green now, save €11 trillion later

The International Energy Agency finds that the clean energy investment needed to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius warming saves $12 trillion [€11.3 trillion] in fuel expenditure — and creates double the amount of jobs lost in fossil fuel-related industries.

Opinion

How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?

The EU Commission's new magic formula for avoiding scrutiny is simple. You declare the documents in question to be "short-lived correspondence for a preliminary exchange of views" and thus exempt them from being logged in the official inventory.

Latest News

  1. EU women promised new dawn under anti-violence pact
  2. Three steps EU can take to halt Azerbaijan's mafia-style bullying
  3. Punish Belarus too for aiding Putin's Ukraine war
  4. Added-value for Russia diamond ban, as G7 and EU prepare sanctions
  5. EU states to agree on asylum crisis bill, say EU officials
  6. Poland's culture of fear after three years of abortion 'ban'
  7. Time for a reset: EU regional funding needs overhauling
  8. Germany tightens police checks on Czech and Polish border

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  2. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  2. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  3. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  4. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us