Participants are reading materials at the China Pavilion of the COP 22 that opened on Nov. 7 and will last until Nov. 18 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

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Humanity’ vision and plan for post-2020 climate change action has crystallized in the 19-page Paris Agreement.

While the agreement, which recently went into effect, formed the basis for common ground among nations, the ongoing UN climate talks in Marrakesh represent a new milestone and lay the foundation for the agreement’s implementation.

Each detailed negotiation in the Marrakesh session concerns global economic and social development. However, opportunities coexist with challenges.

 

The agreement in practice
Multilateral negotiations underwent many twists and turns in an effort to strike a balance among a complicated web of competing interests. The ability of the Paris negotiations to make progress offers a good model for dealing with the myriad challenges now facing global governance.

However, parties are still divided on some technical details as they attempt to implement the agreement. According to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” enshrined in international environmental law, developed countries should have greater responsibilities than developing countries with regard to environmental protection.

According to provisions of the Paris Agreement, developed countries should provide support for developing countries in capital and technology. It is true that developed countries pledged $100 billion in assistance each year until 2020 to help developing economies tackle climate change, but uncertainties still remain as to how they will fulfill the promise.

China sent a large delegation to the UN climate talks in Marrakesh in hopes that all parties “consolidate, maintain and carry forward” the foundation of cooperation that was established in the climate talks in Paris to achieve mutual benefit and foster political trust.

How can political trust be forged? Special Representative for Climate Change of China Xie Zhenhua said, “Only when the decisions made in the past and the consensus reached become reality and all promises are fulfilled, can people have trust in the negotiations going forward.”

Finance discussions, however, are plagued by political disagreements over what should legitimately be counted as climate finance as well as data uncertainties and difficulties in correctly calculating contributions from different sources.

A reasonable goal for Marrakesh would be to bring more clarity to the finance issue including what contributions count, funding priorities and distribution.

However, it is definitely difficult to erase all the friction that has accumulated in climate negotiationsduring the past over 20 years. There were several times when negotiations were halted because developed countries evaded their due responsibilities. Some analysts believe that the Marrakesh talks face an uphill battle with regard to particular technical details. And as the talks continue, divergences of opinion will appear that could possibly intensify the confrontations between parties.

But facing common challenges, the international community needs climate talks more than ever. The mutually beneficial strategy China advocates should replace the “zero-sum” approach.

The fact that the Paris Agreement came into effect earlier than predicted shows that the global community recognizes the urgent need to reform climate governance. On the surface, global climate talks like those going on in Marrakesh seem to be just forums for coordination on greenhouse gas emission and clean energy technology promotion, but they are actually reflective of the broader issues of global governance and sustainable development.

 

China as driving force
What is in store for China, the world’s second-largest producer of greenhouse gases, at the Marrakesh climate talks? What motivated China to be a consistent advocate for the signature and ratification of the Paris Agreement? Is the country merely seeking to clear its own skies of the smog that plagues its cities?

Rapid development has side effects. This is not just a concern for China but also a common issue that needs to be addressed by almost all developing countries.

The world is watching how China will tackle the ecological problems that concern the wellbeing of its people. When China looks to the rest of the world, it finds no precedents for how to make progress in the field of climate governance. A uniquely Chinese way will have to be blazed out by itself.

China has stated its confidence in the next phase of global climate governance and its willingness to strengthen cooperation with other parties within the UNFCCC to play its part in building a fair, rational and mutually beneficial mechanism of global climate governance.

In addition, China launched the South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change to help other developing countries address climate change. The global momentum on climate change is building—with China as a driving force toward a model of green development that can bring about ecological transformation.

 

(edited by MA YUHONG)