Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Escalating diplomatic tensions between the US and China are causing major concern at the COP27 climate summit. UN chief Antonio Guterres called for a historic agreement — or “pact of climate solidarity” — between developed and emerging economies at the start of the landmark climate conference. The US and China, the world’s two largest economies and top emitters of greenhouse gases, “have a special responsibility to join efforts to make this pact a reality,” Guterres said on Monday. “This is our only hope of meeting our climate goals.” But many fear that tensions between Washington and Beijing could make climate cooperation at COP27 extremely difficult. Carlos Pascual, senior vice president of global energy at S&P Global Commodity Insights, told CNBC that tensions between the US and China “will come at a cost to the global security agenda, the political agenda and the climate agenda.” US President Joe Biden’s administration in recent months has identified China as an even greater threat than Russia in its National Security Strategy, and the White House has warned Beijing that it will defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion. For its part, China accused the US of sending “very wrong, dangerous signals” to Taiwan after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit there in August. Beijing also criticized a US law aimed at boosting US processor chip production and reducing reliance on Asian suppliers. In that context, Biden is expected to join a 16-member delegation of top officials at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt later this week to “advance the global climate fight.” Chinese President Xi Jinping is not scheduled to attend the conference, although the country has reportedly sent a delegation of more than 50 people to the event. “For developing and emerging economies, their perception is that if the world’s two biggest polluters can’t agree and can’t work together to reduce their emissions, then what’s the point of reducing their emissions because in in relative terms it has such a tiny impact.” said S&P’s Pascual. “One of the things that China has been very clear about is that for it, the Taiwan question was such an important and existential issue that if there is a conflict over Taiwan and the sense that the United States is advancing interests that are opposite with interests. of China, then that will override cooperation in any other area,” he added. “This is extremely problematic and concerning.” The strained diplomatic relationship could even extend to trade issues across Asia, Pascual added, noting that China is the main trading partner of almost every country in the region.
“Collective responsibility”
Former UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa told CNBC that, in the past, climate talks have benefited from US and Chinese leadership, citing a surprise agreement between Washington and Beijing to boost climate cooperation at last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland. “I personally hope that there could be a way to … restart cooperation between China and the US – even if it’s only on climate change. We say it’s only on climate change, but we know that climate change is really at the center of everything in society”. “To have it restored would be very, very important,” Espinoza said, but added that she doesn’t expect that to happen in Sharm el-Sheikh. “I would, however, hope that others can take the lead where right now, for very different reasons, these two great and great countries are not currently working together in this space. It’s not just up to them. it is a collective responsibility,” he said. Biden is expected to join a 16-member delegation of top officials at COP27 later this week to “advance the global climate fight.” Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images US climate envoy John Kerry has previously said Washington is ready to hold climate talks with China and work together on “what is a global, global [and] existential question”. “And there is no solution to the problem of climate change without China, without Russia, without India, without … major economies at the table,” Kerry said. A series of major UN reports published in recent weeks provided a grim assessment of how close the planet is to irreversible climate collapse, warning that there is no “credible pathway” to limit global warming to the critical temperature threshold of 1, 5 degrees Celsius.
“Very grim scenario”
Harjeet Singh, head of global policy strategy at the Climate Action Network, which includes more than 1,500 civil society groups, stressed that while the issues between the US and China are very complex, the countries must put aside their political differences on it’s about the climate. . “The US is the biggest emitter historically and China is the biggest emitter now, if they come together and say we’re going to work in harmony, we’re going to send a very positive message. And we need such a message because we’re in a very bleak scenario,” said Singh. “Time is running out and partnerships like this will encourage others to do more and really tackle the climate crisis.”
