The fact that China's President Xi Jinping does not even want to speak on video at the climate summit in Glasgow does not bode well for global warming. The world will not achieve the goal of limiting this to 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial level without strong action on the part of the country, which emits more greenhouse gases than all traditional industrial countries put together. But the Chinese leader stayed away from both the G-20 meeting in Rome and the climate protection conference in Great Britain. According to official reports, Xi only wanted to comment in writing there after China did not tighten its climate targets any further.
The cheers from last year were probably premature when Xi promised the world to cut China's emissions by 2030 at the latest and to make the country carbon neutral by 2060. It was already clear then that this would not be enough for the 1.5 degree target. But the People's Republic had announced for the first time ever that it would comprehensively reduce its dependence on dirty coal energy. This had raised hopes that China would soon follow up on its climate promise with further commitments. That didn't happen.
Because the world has ordered more goods than ever before from the largest exporting nation and the country has been hit by an energy crisis at the same time, the government has increased coal production by 6 percent compared to the previous year. Beijing had already approved the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the previous year in order to mitigate the economic slump as a result of the pandemic. Given the current weak growth, the game is repeating itself.
So the world shouldn't hope that the Communist Party will keep its international promises because it doesn't need votes at home.
Whether the promises to open up the economy, the freedom of Hong Kong or the non-militarization of the South China Sea: if it uses its power, the CP shows itself to be more agile than any other party on the planet.
All experts agree that, in order to achieve its climate targets, Beijing would have to start radical restructuring of the economy immediately.
But in one year’s time at the 20th Party Congress, contrary to previous practice, Xi wants to get a third term in office and promises prosperity for everyone.
In China, energy security will probably remain more important than climate protection for a long time to come.