Davos - Chinese President Xi
Jinping urged climate change skeptic Donald Trump to keep the US in the “hard
won” Paris agreement during a Davos speech that touted the world’s largest
polluter as a leader in the fight against global warming.
Speaking at the World Economic
Forum’s annual meeting, Xi said “all signatories must stick to” the 2015 Paris deal to limit
global temperature increases to well below 2 degrees Celsius. “Walking away”
from the pact would endanger future generations, he said.
While Trump has threatened
to reverse President Obama policies on tackling climate change and pull the US
out of the 2015 Paris accord, China is strengthening its commitment to the
issue. Earlier this month, it pledged to invest 2.5 trillion yuan ($360
billion) in renewable energy through 2020 to reduce greenhouse gases that cause
global warming.
Read also: #WEF2017: All about climate
Xi said China’s green
development investments were already “paying off” and urged other countries to
support international cooperation to solve the world’s most urgent challenges.
“We should join hands and
rise to the challenge,” he said. “Let us boost confidence, take actions and
work together for a bright future.”
Suspending coal
China’s government has suspended 101 coal-power projects
across 11 provinces as it moves toward cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The
deferred investments are worth about 430 billion yuan ($63 billion), China’s
financial daily Caixin reported Tuesday.
“If the US does step back
from leadership in the climate process then China will step forward, not least
for pure realpolitik reasons,” said Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New
Energy Finance. “If you’ve got large parts of the world including all of
Africa, really hungry for investment and energy solutions, then the US is seen
as an unreliable partner, or trying to push dirty solutions, then I think China will step
into that breach.”
China already leads in
renewable energy investment, spending almost $88 billion in 2016, one-third
more than the US according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. China’s
investment has already created 3.5 million renewable energy jobs and that’s
expected to grow to 13 million by 2020, according to the International
Renewable Energy Agency.
Read also: China prepares to retaliate on trade
Xi’s comments on climate
change will help reassure clean energy investors at a time when the future
of the US’s own renewables market in doubt, said Li Shuo, policy adviser at
Greenpeace East Asia.
“The US political situation
provides an external driver for China to go forward from being a reluctant
leader to climate hero,” he said in a phone interview.
It’s not just rising global
temperatures and sea levels concerning China. The nation’s increasingly
wealthy middle class is worried about the quality of air it breathes and water
it drinks and has become more vocal about complaints. With Beijing again cloaked in smog at the start of
the year, Xi faces continued pressure to show he’s doing what it takes to clean
things up.
Xi’s speech “showed China’s
willingness to step into a growing global leadership role, including on climate
change,” Christopher Henderson, Ranping Song and Paul Joffe of the World
Resources Institute, said in a blog posting.