SCIO briefing on China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change (2016)

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Speaker:
Mr. Xie Zhenhua, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)

Chairperson:
Xi Yanchun, vice director-general of the Press Bureau, State Council Information Office

Date:
Nov. 1, 2016

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you Mr. Xie. Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media outlet before raising questions.

Wen Wei Po:

The Marrakech Climate Change Conference is about to open. Would you tell us China's basic position at the conference? What does China expect from it? Thank you.

Xie Zhenhua:

I attended a ministerial meeting in preparation of the Marrakech conference before attending this press conference. At that meeting, ministers from more than 50 countries reached consensus that the conference must address the following issues.

First, we need to enhance actions to address climate change before 2020. When we talk about the Paris Agreement, we are generously talking about the actions after 2020. Therefore, we need to make sure that the consensus we have reached and the commitments we have made in the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Doha Amendment will be honored.

Second, we need to find out how all countries fulfill their commitments on intended nationally determined contributions, because in order to convene the facilitative dialogue in 2018, we need to have a clear picture of what all countries have done.

Third, we will hold a series of negotiations to devise detailed implementation plans for the Paris Agreement. All parties need to make specific arrangements for the negotiations. There should be a schedule and a roadmap. The Paris Agreement will be carried out through a series of mechanisms and systems. This is also an important topic of the Marrakech conference.

The fourth topic is also of most concern to developing countries. It regards developed countries' actual fulfillment of their commitments of offering aid to developing countries in terms of funds, technologies and capacity building. We need to show to everyone how much money the developed countries have offered, where the money went, what has been done, and what results have been achieved so far. Therefore, at the ministerial meeting, UK and Australia conducted a statistical survey on the overall preparation of the financial aid among the OECD member countries, announcing that so far, more than US$60 billion have been invested to help developing countries. Yet, many developing countries demanded a deeper investigation to check if the aid was new, additional, adequate and predictable as required by the Convention. As a result, at the Marrakech conference, there may be discussions on the arrangement of financial aid and the transfer of technologies. Some judgments and decisions may be made on the occasion.

Fifth, the ultimate approach to implement the Paris Agreement is to promote sustainable, green and low-carbon development, so the Marrakech conference will make arrangements in this regard.

There is another important issue at the Marrakech conference. The Paris Agreement will take effect on the second week of the conference. There will be a celebratory event, and the first meeting of all signatory countries will also be convened.

The above are Marrakech conference's main topics and tasks and China's basic positions.

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