After the US withdrew from the Paris agreement, the views of China. There you have to get used to the new role in the fight against climate change, says DW columnist Frank Sieren.
China’s major cities have been suffering for years under heavy Smog, caused mainly by the combustion of coal
So fast it can go. From one day to the other, China is at the forefront of climate protection, without having to be pushed. Donald Trump has been associated with his withdrawal from the Paris agreement to the roles whose size exceeds its horizon. Not only is he isolated in order for the United States, because he has the Rest of the world against you – the topic of climate change gets so much media recovery. Everybody talks about the climate objectives. “Right now” is the Tenor, in countless Nations, corporations and even some States in the USA. You want to continue or even do more for the protection of the earth. At the global level, especially in Germany and China are this question, a close Partner, and committed to their goals.
Climate protection without the United States at all doable?
One Problem, however: the major goal of the Paris agreement is to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius by the year 2100 – according to experts, without the United States is not tenable, even if all other countries cling to your goals. America is and will remain the country with the largest cumulative CO2 emissions of the story. Even today, the US emits 15 percent of all greenhouse gases in the world. Only China has currently 30 percent, which is, admittedly, an enormously higher percentage.
DW-columnist Frank Sieren lives in Beijing
That should change in the coming years, but drastically, if you want to give the government in Beijing to Believe. And you can do that in this case. Over 360 trillion-Dollar Beijing plans to invest by 2020 in renewable energy and has already brought many projects on the way. In the end you want to produce 40 percent of all solar energy, 36 per cent of the global hydropower, and 36 percent of all wind energy. More than 13 million new Jobs should arise in this sector. In addition, the share of coal in the energy mix is to be reduced. You rejected the plans for 103 new, or even already in the construction of coal-fired power plants. In Paris, China had promised to reduce CO2 emissions by 2030. Recent studies suggest that the peak of the emissions is, however, already achieved earlier, especially because the consumption of coal in 2016, has already dropped for the third year in a row.
The pressure on China grows
These Figures are the awaken international, the hope that China can play a crucial leadership role in the fight against climate change. No one else is able to take so much money for the Expansion of Solar -, Wind -, and hydropower in the Hand – at least since the US withdrawal have announced. Easier Trump would have been able to make it to the Chinese: As the leading Power in the area of climate protection, Beijing would also improve drastically the Image.
But the leadership role to build a certain amount of pressure that goes hand in hand with increased international attention. And the could be higher, as the Chinese leadership in this area is currently loving. Because there is one hitch in the implementation of the Paris agreement In Beijing, it refuses external evaluations of the CO2 emissions permit. So far, China has published only twice in the data, 1995 and 2005. The agreement now requires that every two years inspection performed evaluations and made public. This could also apply to foreign companies, but does not want to Beijing.
Controls only on the basis of trust?
Therefore, the West must be content either with the estimates of, for example, Greenpeace or the information of the government. Of which, you do not know how accurate they are, because the methods of measurement are not exactly defined.
As a control, solely on the basis of trust can be a Problem if China really wants to exercise its leadership role. The possibility of an open Monitoring would certainly be a better basis for international cooperation. This is because climate protection is a priority on the exemplary role of the great powers. If small countries don’t see America taking care of the environment and its protection, then you do not think you will have to make the first right. And the Same goes for data, which can’t be trusted. That is why it is so important to have big players such as China and the European Union, which function as role models. And the China-EU summit in Brussels was able to show in the last week, hopefully enough of you agreed on a closer cooperation in the field of renewable energies, including research and exchange of technologies. But here, too, lurk the problems in the small print: A nine-page joint Declaration was not signed, because China and Europe are arguing in trade issues.
Our correspondent Frank Sieren has lived for more than 20 years in Beijing.