China is still committed to the Paris climate change accord agreed in 2015, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Wednesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed overnight an order to dismantle Obama-era climate change regulations.
“We still uphold that all sides should move with the times, grasp the opportunities, fulfill their promises and earnestly take proactive steps to jointly push the enforcement of (the Paris) agreement,” he said at a briefing.
“No matter how other countries’ policies on climate change, as a responsible large developing country China’s resolve, aims and policy moves in dealing with climate change will not change.”
NAN recalls that on Sept. 3, 2016, China and the U.S., the world’s two biggest economies submitted their plan to join the agreement.
Former president Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to cooperate on two other global environmental agreements, an amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down air-conditioning refrigerants and on a market-based measure to reduce carbon emissions from aviation.
According to a UN document, China represents just over 20 per cent of global emissions while the U. S. accounted for 17.9 per cent, Russia 7.5 per cent and India 4.1 per cent.
Adopted in Paris by the 196 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at a conference known as (COP21) in December, the Agreement’s objective is to limit global temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius and to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius.
140 of the 197 parties have so far ratified the Agreement which entered into force on Nov. 4, 2016. (Reuters
