Responding to a question from the media during a regular press conference on June 13, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said if developed countries are still unable to shoulder their responsibility, it will significantly weaken the effectiveness of international cooperation in global climate governance and impede the realization of the global temperature-control targets established by the Paris Agreement.

Asked whether the reports that the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) is likely to push for China to play a greater role in global climate financing and provide climate funds to developing countries, the spokesperson said providing financial support is a "unshirkable moral responsibility" and that developed countries must also play their part. 

"Climate finance is the key support for taking climate action and achieving emission reduction targets," Lin said. "Providing financial support for climate action in developing countries is not only a unshirkable moral responsibility of developed countries but also an international law obligation that they must fulfill under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement."

He noted that in 2009, developed countries promised to provide $100 billion in climate funding to developing countries each year, but they have repeatedly failed to do so, with a total debt of more than $300 billion. This has greatly undermined mutual trust between the North and the South and global efforts to address climate change, he said.

Should those developed countries fail to assume their due historical responsibilities for future climate funding arrangements at COP29 or even try to shift the responsibility to developing countries, it will greatly undermine the effectiveness of international cooperation in global climate governance and hinder the global temperature-control goals established in the Paris Agreement, Lin said.

He said that as the largest developing country, China faces multiple tasks such as economic development, improving people's well-being and pollution control. Nonetheless, it conscientiously fulfills relevant obligations under the framework convention system, comprehensively promotes carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and promises to achieve the largest reduction in carbon emission intensity in the world in the shortest time. Meanwhile, China has been providing support and assistance to other developing countries under the framework of South-South cooperation in addressing climate change.

So far, China has signed 50 memorandums of understanding on cooperation with 41 developing countries, held 58 training courses on South-South cooperation in addressing climate change, trained more than 2,400 professionals in the field and provided practical help, for which it is highly recognized and widely praised by relevant developing countries. In the next step, China will further increase South-South cooperation and continue to provide help within its capacity to other developing countries in addressing climate change.

(Cover: The Olympic Stadium that will hold November's COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25, 2024. /CFP)