At the G20 Summit in Hamburg on July 7 and 8, both China and Russia reiterated their commitments to the Paris agreement on climate change, leaving President Donald Trump isolated.

One of the key moments of the Summit was the first ever meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Xi Jinping had already been hosted by President Trump in Florida back in April, but in the intervening months Trump controversially pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

President Xi told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on that China will fulfil its obligations under the Paris climate change agreement, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The two were meeting on the side-lines of the G20 summit.

Ahead of the Hamburg Summit, a Sino-German conference in Berlin highlighted ways in which the two countries can cooperate on global climate change policy.

The Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) in cooperation with China’s National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NSCS) brought together experts from China and Germany for the forum, titled Joining forces in global climate policy: New perspectives for Chinese-German cooperation.

MERICS noted that the Paris Agreement is in danger amid uncertainty about the future role of the US in the global fight against climate change. China and Germany have pioneered new climate change policies in the past, and their joint initiative will be needed to sustain the evolution of the global climate regime.

China and Germany have used their successive G20 presidencies to address policy innovations for climate change mitigation. At this year’s G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany plans to build on China’s efforts to create a market for green finance and innovative financial products. Both countries are working on technology-backed solutions for managing urban spaces. Furthermore, they share an interest to find more effective ways to use instruments like emissions trading and carbon pricing in the future.

According to a MERICS report on the discussion, there was consensus that China has emerged as a game changer in the global struggle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. China is on track to meet or exceed its target to reduce its carbon intensity by up to 45% below 2005 levels by 2020, and it will most likely reach the peak of its CO2 emissions ahead of 2030, the deadline it had set in Paris.

“China recognizes that it is in its best interest to transition to a low carbon economy,” Barbara Finamore, Asia director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an American NGO, told the gathering.

Photo: Bundersregierung/Bergmann