US withdrawal from Paris Agreement wastes world 5 years to tackle climate change: Chinese envoy

GLASGOW - The withdrawal of former US President Donald Trump's administration from the Paris Agreement has wasted the world nearly five years in its multilateral process to tackle climate change, a Chinese envoy has said.

Due to the disruption caused by the United States, countries worldwide now "must work harder together to catch up", Xie Zhenhua, special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping and China's special envoy for climate change, said Tuesday.

Xie urged concrete actions to translate commitments to tackling climate change into reality, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"To achieve the Paris goal of limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the key lies in taking actions instead of merely chanting slogans," he said.

Calling the goals set in the Paris Agreement "inclusive, science-based, rules-based, realistic and achievable," he called on countries to take concrete actions to meet them.

These actions require economic and social transformation, progress in technological innovation, and cooperation in enhanced multilateral mechanisms, he added.

Citing views in a recent report by the International Energy Agency, he pointed out that to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, the world needs to take into consideration historical responsibilities, starting point of different countries, different capabilities and national circumstances, as well as follow the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Developed countries need to take the lead to cut emissions, provide finance and technological support for developing countries, he added.

He noted that the pledges made by developed countries to provide $100 billion a year to help lower-income countries by 2020 remain unmet, which hurts political mutual trust between developing and developed countries.

Echoing the call of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a 50/50 split in climate finance for mitigation and adaptation, Xie called for enhanced funding for adaptation efforts to strike a balance between funding for mitigation and adaptation.

China has set a good example by taking the lead in updating its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which outlined the country's goals of peaking its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, he said. "China's updated NDC is forceful."

The Chinese envoy elaborated on China's progress in such fields as energy conservation, renewable energy resources development and transportation, noting that it greatly facilitated the country's green transition.