China plays a pivotal role in combating climate change, has supported various related projects: Egyptian Ambassador

A logo of the COP 27 summit. Photo: Xinhua

The high level of cooperation between China and the Egyptian presidency of COP27 continues to become stronger, with far reaching results that will have a lasting positive impact for both peoples and the rest of the developing countries, Egyptian Ambassador to China Assem Hanafi told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

Ambassador Hanafi noted that China plays a pivotal role in combating climate change, and has supported various projects in line with the agenda.

Xie Zhenhua, special representative for Chinese President Xi Jinping and China's special envoy for climate change, pledged at COP27 that China will gradually enhance its ability to control methane emissions.

"China is willing to strengthen communications and exchanges with other countries for cooperation in policymaking, innovation, and technology application of methane emission control, and make joint contributions to tackling global climate change," Xie said.

"There is a mutual vision between our two countries when it comes to the necessity of continuing the global effort to mitigate climate change impacts, and compensate the least developed countries for losses and damage, commending the level of cooperation on these issues at the bilateral and multilateral levels," Hanafi told the Global Times.

"China and the group of the 77 play a vital role in putting forward the interests of the developing countries regarding climate change negotiations," he added.

The 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) opened on November 6 and will last until Saturday, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in hopes to turn global climate finance pledges into action.

At the opening ceremony, Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 President Sameh Shoukry stressed the need to confront the negative effects of climate change during the two-week conference, where more than 120 world leaders will seek possible solutions to climate change challenges, Xinhua reported.

"Egypt believes that the climate crisis will aggravate social, economic and environmental threats. Hence, urgent and serious actions are needed to address the climate crisis and to strengthen the implementation of response with an aim to create a resilient planet," said Hanafi.

According to him, Egypt's priority at COP27 is to "move from talks, negotiations and planning to actual implementation; it is the time for action on the ground and we need to move quickly towards full, timely, inclusive, and at-scale action on the ground."

In addition to climate change, the world over the past year has also suffered from the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises including increasing inflation and frequent extreme weather events among others.

All these crises call for joint global action, which make this year's COP27 crucial.

"There is a necessity to harmonize global efforts, and turn our pledges and commitments to action, this is our highest priority. We shall all agree that in order to help developing countries address climate change, it is essential that we make significant progress on the crucial issue of climate finance while moving forward on all finance related items on the agenda," said the diplomat.

"The importance of adequacy and predictability of climate finance is key to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, to this end there is a need for enhanced transparency of finance flows and facilitated access to meet the needs of developing countries especially Africa and least developed countries (LDCs)."

The ambassador called on developed nations to "take urgent measures to help climate-vulnerable developing countries better cope with the impacts of climate change, such measures include financing targeted infrastructure projects and mechanisms to share risk through financial markets.''

Economies of developing countries are now facing accelerating climate threats such as hurricanes in the Caribbean and Latin America and floods in Asia and Africa. The extreme weather has not only caused loss of property and precious human lives, but also heavy economic pressure on developing countries as media reports have shown.

"Extreme weather events from heatwaves, floods, forest fires have become an everyday reality of our lives. The Global Goal on Adaptation was one of the significant outcomes of COP26, we must ensure that COP27 makes the crucially needed progress and urge all parties to demonstrate the necessary political will and assess our progress towards enhancing resilience and assist the most vulnerable communities. COP27 should witness enhanced global agenda for action on adaptation, confirming what we agreed on in Paris and further elaborated in Glasgow pact with regard to placing adaptation at the forefront of global action."

China's climate envoy also noted in his address at COP27 that developing countries are the principal victims of climate change, with insufficient adaptation ability and external support in the face of global warming.

"As a result, developing countries, in particular, need technical and financial support," Xie said.

On the one hand China is urging developed countries to fulfill their pledges and "make the pie bigger" on climate finance, the envoy noted, on the other hand China is helping developing countries improve their climate adaptation capabilities through South-South cooperation, Xie said.

China has so far signed 45 climate change cooperation documents with 38 developing countries, constructed three low-carbon demonstration areas, carried out 42 climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, held 45 offline and seven online training courses in China, and trained about 2,000 officials and technicians in the field of climate change for more than 120 developing countries, according to reports.