China said that expanding the contributor base for the new finance goal under discussion at the summit will not "solve the problem", while showcasing its efforts for "south-south" — developing countries — co-operation at the UN Cop 29 climate summit.
China has signed 53 climate co-operation initial agreements with other developing countries and implemented more than 300 climate-related capacity building projects, China's environment and ecology minister (MEE) Huang Run Qiu said at a Cop 29 event on 15 November. He did not provide a timeline. China also launched a Zero-Carbon Island co-operation initiative during the summit.
Chinese vice premier Ding Xuexiang pointed out at the Cop 29 leaders summit that the country "provided and mobilised" more than 177bn yuan ($24.5bn) of project funds to support other developing countries' climate responses since 2016, Ding said on 13 November.
Think-tank WRI research found that China provided $45bn in climate finance to developing countries between 2013-22, equivalent to 6.1pc of climate finance provided by all developed countries in the period.
Ding expressed China's willingness to work with "all parties" to meet climate goals, but the country has also made clear that the onus is on developed countries to finance the new climate finance goal. Developed countries agreed in 2009 to deliver $100bn/yr in climate finance to developing nations, and Cop 29 is focused on the next iteration of this — the new collective quantified goal (NCQG).
Developed nations are calling for more contributors for the goal, including from developing countries in a position to contribute, such as China. The UN climate body the UNFCCC works from a list of developed and developing countries from 1992 — delineating 24 countries plus the EU as developed — and many of these note that economic circumstances have changed over the past 32 years.
But China believes that it is for developed countries to "take the lead" in mobilising financial resources, encouraging others to "voluntarily" provide such support, it said during a ministerial dialogue on finance.
Discussions on expanding contributors for the goal will "only lead to further controversies" without solving the problem, with China viewing mutual support between the NCQG and south-south co-operation as "the ideal scenario".
Others have lauded China's south-south co-operation efforts. The south-south model "represents a powerful framework that has repeatedly shown the impact of developing nations working together to achieve sustained development," said United Nations Office for Project Services (Unops) executive director Jorge Moreira da Silva. Cop 29 chief executive Elnur Soltanov also described China as "one of the locomotives of green transition in the world".
UN climate body UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell emphasised the importance of multilateralism and international co-operation, and stated that the world will "need China's continued leadership". He warned against a "two-speed transition, because winners and losers still share the same atmosphere".
Stiell also noted that a strong NDC — country climate plan — would "send an important signal to other countries that stronger targets drive investment". China has yet to submit its new NDC with updated 2035 targets — due by February next year. But Ding said that it will be "economy-wide" and "cover all greenhouse gases", while continuing to strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
