Shift in Global Climate Governance and China's Contributions

ZHUAnG GUIYAnG

Research Fellow， Institute of Urban Development and Environmental Studies，Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Secretary-General， Think Tank of Ecological Culture， Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

ZHoU WEIDUo from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Shift in Global Climate Governance and China's Contributions

ZHUAnG GUIYAnG

Research Fellow， Institute of Urban Development and Environmental Studies，Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Secretary-General， Think Tank of Ecological Culture， Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

ZHoU WEIDUo from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

The world climate conference was held in Paris between November 30 and December 12，2015. Lanzhou attended the conference as the only invited low-carbon pilot city from China. It shared with the attendees from France and beyond the experience in air pollution treatment and the vision of lowcarbon city construction；it spread to the world the “Voice of Lanzhou”on green development，which received high recognition and positive comments of the attendees. Moreover，Lanzhou won "Today's Reform Progress Award" jointly granted by the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change，China Low-Carbon Union， the United States Environmental Protection Association，and China Low Carbon and Emission Reduction Special Committee.

The conclusion of the Paris Agreement struck a balance between interest of various countries in the world and global interest， being a milestone in the process of global climate governance. In the successful conclusion of the Paris Agreement， China played a great promoting role， which fully illustrated China's determination in partaking in global climate governance and in switch to a new development paradigm of ecological civilization and at the same time embodied China's major contributions to the sustainable development of mankind.

CoRE ELEMEnTs oF THE PARIs CLIMATE AGREEMEnT

The Paris Agreement is a comprehensive， balanced， effective and legally binding agreement， covering key contents such as the long-term temperature goal， mitigation， adaptation， loss and damage， fund， technology， capacity building， transparency and global stocktake， reflecting the principles of “equity， justice， comprehensiveness and balance”. It further enhances the comprehensive， effective and sustained implementation of theUnitedNationsFrameworkConventiononClimateChange， providing a legally basis to begin with the new global processof green， low carbon development.

The Paris Agreement includes a number of consensuses pushed for by various parties to the climate politics in the past two decades， which boil down to five aspects: first， a long-term goal aiming at zero-emission； secondly， enhanced action with stocktake once every five years； third， improved transparency for fulfilling climate commitments； fourth， a “climate fund”to help developing countries； and fifth，“adaption （action）” to help the group of people most vulnerable to the effects of cli-mate change.

In regard to the long-term temperature goal， the Paris Agreement establishes the goal at the global average temperature not to exceed2 °C above preindustrial levels by 2100，puts it into writingto pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels and makes it clear to achieve zero emission of greenhouse gas by the second half of the 21st century. According to the agreement， various parties will participate in global climate change actions by “intended nationally determined contributions” （INDCs）.

In regard to continuingto enhance climate actions， the Paris Agreement enlarges participation by various parties on the basis of INDCs and continues to assess global progress with comprehensive global stocktake at the core. The agreement is set to undertake its first global stocktake in 2023 and every five years thereafter so as to help countries to enhance actions，strengthen international cooperation and thereby to achieve the long-term global goal on climate change.

In regard to “transparency”， the Paris Agreementdecides to put in place an initiative to build transparency-related capacity and through an enhanced transparency framework， requests countries to report their respective emission and on， regular basis， toreport progress of their INDCs， within whichinformation submitted by each partyshall undergo an expert review and shall be subject to multilateral examination

In regard to “climate fund”， the Paris Agreement emphasizes the historical responsibility of the developed countries and makes it clear that the developed countries should provide fund and resources to help parties of developing countries in both mitigation and adaptation， obliging them to provide developing countries with support in fund， technology and capacity enhancement.

In regard to climate change “adaptation （action）”， the Paris Agreement strike a balance between mitigation and adaptation and makes it clear for the first time that the developed countries should contribute fund not only to “mitigation” but also to “adaptation”，helping the developing countries to meet climate change and achieve sustainable development. The Paris Agreement clearly establishes a global goal in enhancing adaptive capacity，strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change

BoTToM-UP MoDEL oF cLIMATE GoVERnAncE

What makes the Paris Agreement an important milestone rests with the fact that it has originated a “bottom-up”model， building a new global climate change governance system based on INDCs that is supplemented by a mechanism for regular renewal and stocktaking once every five years.

The “bottom-up” model of climate governance takes full considerations of varying national conditions between countries and， at the same time， guarantees the most extensive participation reflecting the principle of “comprehensive participation” of the Convention. Judging by the conditions of the Paris Climate Change Conference， the success of the Paris Agreement in promoting comprehensive participation is unprecedented， to date 188 parties to the agreement having summited INDCs， approaching 100 percent of global emission.

Reached on the basis of “bottom-up”INDCs， the Paris Agreement stands for a major shift in global climate governance， inducing the change in nature on national commitments and actions. A survey of the INDCs papers submitted by all countries shows that the “nationally determined contributions” are many and manifold without a unifying standard as they are in the main results of independent decision by various countries based on their understanding of their responsibilities and capacity. This， in fact， has broken the “firewall” between the developed countries and developing ones on responsibilities and corresponding commitments and actions within the framework of the Convention and its protocol， being a new rebalancing on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility， on the principle of varying individual capacity and on varying national conditions and corresponding “unsymmetrical commitments”within the framework of the Convention.

FRoM MAJoR-coUnTRY conTEsT To WIn-WIn cooPERATIon

The motivation for each country to take domestic climate actions and take part in international climate governance is almost always related to its own national interest against the background of climate change. To conduct international cooperation in climate change will ultimately lead to general improvement on the wellbeing of all countries in the medium and long-term， a result much better than common， global damage caused by delay in action or ineffective actions and also better than insufficient global actions in spite of actions by some of the countries， that result in misplacement in the pattern of interest distribution. First of all， the basic consensus is reached on the long-term temperature goal， in keeping with the political bottom line of all parties.The Paris Agreement has eventually established a control target of 2°C and an inspirational one of 1.5°C， which is a balance between small island countries，least developed countries， developed countries and emerging developing countries. Small island countries and least developed countries would like to see the adoption of 1.5°C temperature control target so as to reduce the damages they will incur whereas emerging economies wish to adopt the 2°C control target and to win more space for development， and developed countries would like to push for a more ambitious target that also helps export low carbon technology， products and services.

Secondly， a basic consensus is reached on the size of climate assistance fund， reflecting the moral responsibilities of the major countries. It is the responsibility under the Con-vention for the developed countries to provide the developing countries with financial assistance in both mitigation and adaptation actions. In 2009 in Copenhagen， the US-led developed countries committed themselves to enlarging the size of climate funding to the level of US$ 100 billion per year by 2020 in order to facilitate the conclusion of the Copenhagen Agreement. However， as there is no consensus between countries on the definition， scope and accounting methods of climate funding， progress on climate funding has always been at the issue. In Paris， as the developed countries fail to produce any quantified funding target for climate financing， only stubbornly pressurize major developing countries and diverts people's attention in the name of mobilizing more participation in climate funding， in the end the parties have not reached a climate funding target beyond 2020， only made partial progress on transparency concerning climate funding from the developed countries and decided to discuss by 2020 the climate funding target from the developed countries in 2025 with US$ 100 billion as the starting point.

Finally， on the issue of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” （CDR principle）， countries maintain the CDR principle andgive expression to climate justice ofthe Paris Agreement. The differentiation of identities of developed and developing countries is far more significant in political terms than in economic ones and to ignore the CDR principle would not have been politically acceptable in developing countries， especially emerging economies. It is worth noting that the CDR principle being well reflected in the Paris Agreement is a major attribute to the support by developing countries for the Paris Agreement and that no other countrieshave made more contributions to this end than China.

Behind the agreement are painstaking efforts over the years by the international community in reaching a multilateral， global climate change agreement. Vigorously pushed by the science circle and business circle， by the policymakers and general public，all major parties have gone with the trend of history and made the right choice. Such an understanding is based not only on the right judgment of interest of various countries but also on their moral responsibilities on climate change.

CHInA's ConTRIBUTIons To GLoBAL CLIMATE GoVERnAncE

First， China has exerted efforts in pushing the Climate Change Conference to reach a legally binding agreement， providing future exploration for a new mechanism of global climate governance with a point of reference. As a major developing country，China， in the process of negotiations，has conducted full consultation and communication， resolved disputes between various parties and meanwhile adhered to its principles， serving as a bridge of communication between developed countries and developing countries. On the eve of the Climate Change Conference， China put forward four expectations， first， to adhere to principles； second， to be comprehensive and balanced； third， to guide the direction； and fourth， to provide guarantee. China's four expectations not only set the necessary tone for the smooth going of talks by parties at the climate conference but also speak for the broad developing countries and strike a key balance in the contest between environmental protection and economic development. In 2014， China and the USA signed the China-US Joint Statement on Climate Change，in which China， for the first time， put forward its emission target of peaking by 2030. China has conducted communication and consultation with the US，hoping to make active preparations for the Paris Climate Change Conference. In 2015， China and the US issued another joint statement， the joint actions by the world two top greenhouse gas emitting countries rendering support for the conference to reach agreement. Besides， China has issued important joint statements on climate change with France， the EU， the UK， South Africa， India and Brazil. Comparing corresponding sections of the Paris Agreement and China-US and China-France joint statements， consensuses in China-US and China-France joint statementson climate change concerning transparency and differentiation of climate funding arebasically reflected.

Secondly， China has exerted efforts to secure climate financial support for the Third World countries and help developing countries to transform to a sustainable mode of development. As the largest developing country in the world， China has been consistent in promoting cooperation between the Southern countries， setting greater store by transformation to a sustainable mode of development. Between 2011 and 2013， through South-South cooperation programs， the Government of China provided African countries，the least developed countries and small island countries with a special fund of US$ 10 million per year to help them adapt to climate change. In September 2015， Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will set up a China Climate Change South-South Cooperation Fund of RMB 20 billion to help developing countries switch to a green， low carbon mode of development， which is extensively praised by the international community. At the Paris Climate Change Conference， President Xi Jinping announces again to set up 10 low carbon demonstration zones， to launch 100 climate mitigation and adaptation projects and to begin a climate change training program of 1000 persons in developing countries. Since 2011， China has put US$ 440 million in South-South cooperation projects. Besides，at this climate conference， China， as a representative of the developing countries， has been firm on adhering to the CDR principle and securing climate financial support， making more concrete the funding target for the developed countries to support the developing countries and thereby laying the foundation for future negotiations on implementing climate funding.