China’s top climate envoy said the world’s transition to clean energy will continue, even as the US’s second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement puts unprecedented stress on the fight against global warming.
The Trump administration’s exit from the United Nations Climate Agreement has created the “most challenging moment” for negotiations since they started in 1990, Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, said at the international Boao Forum in Hainan, China. But the multilateral process must continue, he said.
“The global energy transition is irreversible,” Liu said during a panel discussion. “No one country can stop this process, because the process of global energy transition is driven by the political will of member nations, market forces and technology.”
One area where the loss of a superpower like the US will be felt acutely is in raising funds to help poorer nations prepare for a hotter world. Developed countries have promised to fund up $300 billion a year for the effort, and Liu said it was incumbent on those that remain to meet that goal even without Washington. China isn’t considered a developed country in the UN process and has resisted calls that it contribute to the fund, although it contributes financially to developing countries in other ways.
During a panel at the Forum, Xie Zhenhua, China’s former top climate official, said he spoke recently to the Biden administration’s climate envoy John Kerry, who relayed that local officials in the US, including 37 state governors and about 1,000 mayors, are still committed to action on global warming despite Trump’s disavowal.
Source: Financial Post, Mar 26, 2025. https://financialpost.com/…/china-envoy-sees-global…
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