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China’s Foreign Ministry yesterday called on the upcoming COP28 climate conference to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the progress in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, urging developed countries in particular to honour their pledges of solidarity in tackling climate change, so as to create more favourable conditions for the implementation of the Convention and its Paris Agreement.

In recent years, extreme weather events have become frequent and the adverse effects of climate change have become prominent, said Wang Wenbin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, adding that the report released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) once again reminds the world that the efforts to tackle climate change are far from enough.

Moreover, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized on Monday that world leaders attending the COP28 climate conference this week need to interrupt the perilous progression of global warming before a “critical tipping point” is encountered.

COP28, which refers to the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is scheduled to be held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, from November 30 to December 12. The upcoming COP will be a decisive one. 

At COP21 in Paris, countries agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.

COP28 will see the first Global Stocktake, a process established in the Paris Agreement to measure countries’ progress towards meeting climate goals and ambitions.

However, as global temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions break records, the latest Emissions Gap Report from the UNEP finds that current pledges under the Paris Agreement put the world on track for a 2.5-2.9C temperature rise above pre-industrial levels this century, pointing to the urgent need for increased climate action.

Unless emission levels in 2030 are brought down further, it will become impossible to establish least-cost pathways that limit global warming to 1.5C with no or low overshoot during this century, UNEP warned in the report, adding that significantly ramping up implementation in this decade is the only way to avoid significant overshoot of 1.5C.

In fact, in order to achieve climate control goals, the Convention and its Paris Agreement require developed countries to take the lead in making significant emissions cuts, and provide financial, technological and capacity building support for climate action in developing countries. At the same time, developing countries should also contribute to the fight against climate change, Wang noted.

As a responsible major developing country, China has already exceeded its 2020 climate action targets ahead of schedule, and will complete the world’s highest reduction in carbon intensity, and achieve carbon peak to carbon neutrality in the shortest time in global history.

Wang also pointed out that the efforts of developed countries to mitigate climate change are still far from enough, and developed countries should take the lead in significantly reducing emissions and achieving net zero emissions much earlier than 2050.

Developed countries should also earnestly and fully fulfil their obligations to provide funds, technology and capacity building for climate action in developing countries, said the spokesperson. — Global Times