China envoy sees global climate fight advancing even without US

BEIJING – China’s top climate envoy said the world’s transition to clean energy will continue, even as the US’ second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement puts unprecedented stress on the fight against global warming.

The Trump administration’s exit from the UN-led process has created the “most challenging moment” for negotiations since they started in 1990, Mr Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, said at the Boao Forum in Hainan. But the multilateral process must continue, he said.

“The global energy transition is irreversible,” Mr Liu said during a panel discussion on March 26. “No one country can stop this process, because the process of global energy transition is driven by the political will of member nations, market forces and technology.”

One area where the loss of a superpower like the US will be felt acutely is in raising funds to help poorer nations prepare for a hotter world.

Developed countries have promised to pony up US$300 billion (S$401.5 billion) a year for the effort, and Mr Liu said it was incumbent on those that remain to meet that goal even without Washington.

China is not considered a developed country in the UN process and has resisted calls that it contribute to the fund.

Plunging costs

In China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, plunging costs of renewable energy have sparked a boom in installations that will probably mean the nation peaks emissions before its target of 2030, said Dr Zhu Min, a former deputy governor at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).

“The carbon peak will be achieved two to three years ahead of schedule, in 2027 or 2028, because the cost of renewable energy is only half of the cost of coal,” said Dr Zhu, now a vice-chairman at the China Centre for International Economic