Some experts also worry that the current global energy crunch - which has left millions in China subject to power cuts and rationing that could last for months - may mean Beijing backslides even further on plans to wean itself off fossil fuels. “My appeal to China is very simple,” Guterres told a press conference, “that they will reach net-zero before 2060 and they will peak emissions before 2030.” Many countries, including the United States, are still not doing enough to avoid damaging temperature rises this century, most experts say, something that United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said Monday was a “thundering wake-up call” ahead of COP26.īut China is coming under increasing pressure, not just because it is responsible for more than a quarter of global emissions, but because its promises to curb them have so far been less ambitious than those by the U.S., Europe and others.
Ĭhina is the world’s largest polluter, pumping out more greenhouse gases than every other industrialized nation combined. And most eyes will be on the team dispatched from Beijing. For the next two weeks the United Nations climate change conference is being hosted in Glasgow, Scotland.