With the United Nations warning that global heating will spiral “faster than expected” in the coming two decades, around 100 political leaders from around the world gathered last week in Glasgow, Scotland, to tackle the rocketing climate crisis.
Organized by Britain, this UN Climate Change Conference (COP26 climate summit) aimed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, or carbon neutrality, and retain the 2015 Paris Agreement, which limits temperature rise from 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius as an attainable goal by 2100 to resolve the threat of growing global warming.
Yet the congregation of world leaders this time was eclipsed from the outset by the incessant political maneuvering by the incumbent United States administration, which dampens its ties with China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a written speech at the summit. Probably in an attempt to stall a further decline in the American image over the forsaking of the climate missions by the Trump administration, US President Joe Biden seized the opportunity to swipe at leaders of China and Russia, but not his Indian counterpart — a US ally — over their absence from the climate summit.
Biden’s remarks drew a rebuttal from China’s top climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, who said at the summit that it was the US and other developed nations that should be tasked for faster emissions cuts. He rejected claims that China should carry obligations for the damage to the Earth’s climate, holding that it was a default on the part of Donald Trump, whose withdrawal from the Paris accord had slackened follow-up efforts considerably. To him, it was time to “work harder and catch up” on the backlog of actions thus created. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson opined that China’s delegation to the summit was sufficiently high in level to engage in the deliberations.
With China being noted internationally as the first country declaring clearly the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, Xie emphasized that China “honors the promises (on climate change) with real action”, instead of with flowery words, as some other countries did. In this regard, it is realized with global interests that China is assisting developing countries through the South-South Cooperation on Climate Change Programme, in which China has invested $188 million covering 40 cooperative projects in 35 countries.
Despite the Global Methane Pledge reached in Glasgow — enlisting countries accounting for half of the world’s methane emissions — and the US climate envoy’s marketing of optimism on coal removal from energy generation, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Glasgow, voicing objections to the climate conference for its perceived failure to produce the necessary breakthroughs in containing the climatic extremities battering the planet. Rally speakers lamented the politicians, businesses and environmentalists participating in the summit for failing to act fast enough to curb global warming and serve the interests of especially the vulnerable communities in countries that have made a negligible impact on climate change.
To shore up collaboration, the muddle over the climate threat has first to be broken off by the US, which hatched it up through relinquishing its leadership role by pulling out abruptly from the Paris Agreement. This is particularly relevant since Biden has boasted of both his “profound impact on the way” to reach the stipulated temperature targets and how well “the rest of the world is looking at the US and its leadership role.” Yet there are grounds to believe that any deliberate attempt by Biden to persist with the current hawkish stance on China, and Russia as well, is most unlikely to yield any avail to the pressing climate-induced complications.
With the frightful invasion of super typhoons in recent years, Hong Kong must be sufficiently prepared for the vigorous fight against rising temperatures and the associated climate disaster. Residents must understand that the city on its own cannot stay clear of weather calamities, and that mitigation, adaptation and resilience strategies are of vital importance for meeting goals on climate change.
The SOS stage has been reached for protecting the local environment by going for greener life habits. In the face of the pervading effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the widespread adoption of take-away dining styles in Hong Kong and its consequent problem of discarded plastics in our waste disposal system, the authorities must assume the need for giving proper direction and incentives to its effective management. At the proactive end, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is expected to ramp up efforts to educate the public about the looming climate crisis and its adverse impact so as to enhance the local community’s preparedness and resilience in combating climate-driven concerns.
The Chinese central government is reported to have issued earlier this week development directives reiterating the incorporation of sustainability and determination to curb pollution in production processes. It is logical for Hong Kong to step onto the same pathway to a shared future in a new era. Given the overarching objective of achieving modernization within a sustainable context, Beijing is eyeing a significant green transition in an economy targeting high-quality growth. Banking authorities on the mainland are understood to be putting up monetary policy tools to aid green energy development.
With China occupying the second-largest share, the world market for green bonds stands currently at a total value of $300 billion, and is heading for an estimated value of $1 trillion in two years. The HKSAR government started this financial market segment in 2015 and accumulated thus far a total value of $3.5 billion. There is substantial room for expanding this financial market segment, especially through the offer of green bonds in renminbi. For benefits to Hong Kong and contributions to the national 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), it certainly pays for the HKSAR government to catch up by capitalizing on its talent, technology and the declared support from the central government to lead the win-win drive.
The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.