For China, Paris is biggest stage in climate change fight

Expert says nation should take the lead in UN conference later this year

China is one of the most important factors in establishing a new global protocol on climate change, says Laurence Tubiana, France's climate change ambassador to the United Nations, in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

"Can China be more energy efficient? Can China use less coal, possibly even no coal?" she asks.

She says all eyes will be on China at the UN climate change conference in Paris later this year to see "what debate China will have and what contributions it will make". The opportunity is there for China to take the lead on efforts to combat climate change, she adds.

As the conference host, Paris has already made efforts to establish coordination among developing countries and seek new financial tools for green energy investments, Tubiana says.

At the 2009 UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, leaders from around the world, including China, failed to reach a global deal to tackle climate change. In 2011, leaders again failed to establish a treaty to limit carbon emissions but agreed to establish a legally binding deal by 2015. The Durban conference also created the Green Climate Fund to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts.

"This new 'Kyoto Protocol' is expected to be adopted in 2015 at the Paris climate conference, and implemented from 2020," Tubiana says.

The 2015 agreement is expected to reach a single comprehensive deal that will combine the current patchwork of binding and non-binding agreements.

China, the United States and Europe will be the three largest players at the conference in Paris, she says.

For France, its leaders must "understand what China's concerns are".

"France needs to listen and communicate with China to know what China can improve upon and what achievements it has made that are worthy of praise."

Though scientists have long proven that climate change is caused by human activities, many countries are still not meeting an agreement hammered out at the Warsaw conference in November 2013 that calls for the preparation of contributions to reduce or limit carbon emissions by 2015, she says.

Based on the consensus in Warsaw, many countries will announce their commitment and contributions by the first quarter of 2015 and no later than this summer to limiting global warming to no more than 2 C above pre-industrial levels. But she says not all countries are following the same timeline.

She adds that India will announce its commitment schedule in the first half of 2015 while Japan will do so by the first quarter, but Australia has yet to announce when it will release its schedule.

"For those countries that haven't made announcement decisions, we are putting pressure on propelling them to launch a detailed schedule as early as possible."

Announcements by the European Union, the United States and China came earlier than expected, she adds.

According to a proposal by the European Commission, the EU is discussing setting a 2030 emissions reduction target of 40 percent below 1990 levels.

In November 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama announced their post-2020 actions to reduce their carbon emissions. The US intends to reduce its emissions by up to 28 percent below 2005 levels in 10 years.

China intends to peak its CO2 emissions by 2030 and to increase its usage of non-fossil fuels to around 20 percent by 2030.

But, "the problem for China is coal. We need joint efforts to see what we can do to make another energy source competitive to coal," Tubiana says. 

She says China can borrow from the experiences of European countries to create a sustainable energy industry.

She also believes that China has contributed to improvements in global energy sustainability.

"Solar panels are 10 times cheaper than 10 years ago. China has delivered much cheaper panels that are benefiting many countries."

The momentum that China can inject into global climate negotiations will inspire other countries to come forward with their own actions, she says.

"I have found that in recent years, efforts by China to defeat climate change have improved. The Chinese government is working very hard on it," Tubiana says.

China could lead the charge in fighting climate change because its pathway could become a future model for many developing countries.

By 2050, Africa could become one of the most energy-consuming continents. In order to avoid repeating the past actions of developed countries, Africa should place more emphasis on renewable energy with the help of the international community, Tubiana says.

Sun Hang contributed to this story.

tuoyannan@chinadaily.com.cn