EU pitch for tougher climate action gets short shrift in Beijing

The EU has tried to rally China to its side ahead of COP30 – with limited success. 

“Together, we can write a success story,” said EU top official Teresa Ribera at the start of the sixth high-level climate dialogue in Beijing yesterday. “During the coming months, we must jointly send strong signals to the other actors that the multilateral system is well alive,” she added. 

In response, the Chinese side pointed to the “practical measures” it had already taken, as per their official read-out. China has yet to reduce emissions, which may have peaked last year.

Brussels has previously said the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases should start cutting back on burning coal, a week after Beijing “urged developed countries to meet their climate commitments on financing, technology transfer and other areas”.

One area of common ground is that neither Beijing nor Brussels has yet submitted its climate action pledge (known as a nationally determined contribution or NDC) to the UN ahead of COP30 in November.

“China's new nationally determined contribution, as stated by [Chinese premier Xi Jinping], will be crucial for the rest of the world,” Ribera told Ding, reminding her counterpart that in April, the supreme leader had said Beijing would submit an economy-wide emission reduction pledge.

The Chinese read-out made no concrete pledge, but stressed that “regardless of how the international situation evolves, China will remain committed to promoting green and low-carbon development”.

The EU rejected Beijing’s narrative that its new import tariff based on the carbon footprint of certain goods (the CBAM) was protectionist. Ribera said Europe did not intend “to go down a race towards low incomes, lower labour rights or lower environmental standards”.

Jasper Steinlein contributed reporting.

(rh)