Chinese diplomats have used the global climate negotiations to oppose trade barriers that threaten the country’s enormous exports of the solar, wind and battery technology [and] declined to step forward with an investment in a flagship rainforest conservation fund, limiting Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s prospects of raising an initially planned $25 billion.
Crucially, China — still the largest coal-consuming nation — has also skirted Lula’s attempts to broker a clearer road map for the world to transition away from fossil fuels. In the final hours of negotiations on Friday, a draft deal put forward by Brazil excluded reference to winding down fossil fuels, prompting anger from some 80 nations who had insisted on such language.
“We are not seeing very convincing signals that China is stepping up,” on traditional climate leadership, said Yao Zhe, a Beijing-based global policy advisor at Greenpeace East Asia, and who is attending the Belém talks.
It seems China has indeed a different agenda than climate change.