China and France launch COP21 climate collaboration

The Presidents of China and France issued a joint statement on climate change on Monday in Beijing, and the two countries will work together closely in the build up to the UN Paris climate summit in December.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart Francois Hollande announced that they will collaborate to accelerate mitigation and adaptation efforts and will support each other at the COP21 negotiations when a global climate deal is due to be agreed.

The two leaders called for increased transparency to build trust and confidence in the proposed COP21 agreement and will also review the actions and support of various parties.

France will host the major COP21 UN Climate Change Conference from 30 November to 11 December, and the 193 UN member states are scheduled to reach a historic international deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The statement was announced during Hollande’s visit to China this week and the French President has been seeking China’s support for a global deal.

Hollande and Xi reaffirmed the two nation’s joint efforts to reach a “legally binding” Paris agreement.

The statement said: “The agreement must send out a clear signal for the world to transition to green, low-carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable development.”

The two leaders said that developed countries should continue to offer financial, technological and capacity-building support to developing countries in the post-2020 period under any new deal.

The Presidents also pledged further cooperation in areas such as low-carbon transportation, renewable and clean  energy, and carbon capture and storage technologies.

Xi said: “China is committed to ensuring the success of the climate conference… I’m confident for the progress of the conference. Our statement has injected positive energy to the multilateral process of addressing climate change.”

China has made a range of environmental pledges in the build up to COP21 including its commitment to launch a national carbon emissions trading system in 2017, establishing a 20 billion yuan (£2 billion) fund to help developing countries climate action efforts, and cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60 per cent to 65 per cent from the 2005 level by 2030.

Hollande and Xi supervised the signing of 17 cooperation agreements later on Monday, covering trade, finance, energy, environmental protection and cultural exchange.