Interview: First-ever global stocktake opens new chapter in global climate process, says head of China's delegation to COP28

DUBAI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The first-ever global stocktake of the Paris Agreement opens a new chapter in the global climate process, Zhao Yingmin, head of China's delegation to COP28, said in an interview here on Wednesday.

Zhao, also China's vice minister of ecology and environment, said the global stocktake sent a strong and positive signal to the international community and was of milestone significance.

COP28, or the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), concluded here Wednesday with the adoption of the UAE Consensus, which covers themes including the global stocktake, climate funding, mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage, among others.

Zhao said COP28, which summarizes the past and guides the future, is an important conference in the global climate process, with the first global stocktake of the Paris Agreement.

"China attaches great importance to this conference. Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping and also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attended the World Climate Action Summit and the Group of 77 and China Leaders' Summit, stating China's propositions, promoting multilateralism, accelerating green and low-carbon transformation, and emphasizing pragmatic actions, which injected strong political impetus into the success of the conference," Zhao said.

"China believes that the conference has basically met expectations," Zhao added. He pointed out that the first global stocktake opened a new chapter in the global climate process, summarized the achievements and gaps, further consolidated the irreversible global trend of the green and low-carbon transition, and pointed out the direction for the future.

The conference operationalized the loss and damage fund on the opening day and also adopted the global stocktake as well as a series of other important results. Zhao said all these had showed the international community's joint efforts to address climate change, reflected all parties' willingness to adhere to multilateralism and actively demonstrate more flexibility and a constructive attitude.

These results achieved by the conference are in line with the concept of ecological civilization advocated by China, he added.

At the same time, Zhao pointed out that in the current global climate process, many concerns of developing countries have not been fully paid attention to and addressed, and developed countries have an undeniable historical responsibility for climate change and must play a leading role in climate action.

Developed countries must take the lead in significantly reducing emissions and achieving net zero emissions as soon as possible, and accelerate the speed and intensity of key actions such as energy transformation, he said.

Developed countries need to fulfill and effectively enhance the scale and intensity of financial, technological and capacity-building support for developing countries, guarantee a just global transformation, provide developing countries with the space and necessary support to achieve sustainable development, and respond more actively to the needs of developing countries, Zhao said.

China believes that addressing climate change needs both ambitions and actions, and the key lies in actions, Zhao said. He emphasized that both the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement made it clear that fairness, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and nationally determined contributions are the cornerstones of the global climate process.