BRUSSELS (Reuters): Global cooperation to tackle climate change will not stall because of the absence of certain countries, China's environment minister told a meeting of governments on Monday, as nations prepare for this year's UN climate negotiations without the United States.
"The multilateral process will not stop, or even slow down, because of the absence of individual countries," Chinese environment minister Huang Runqiu told the meeting, describing the world's low-carbon transition as "irreversible".
U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the world's biggest economy from the Paris Agreement, the world's main climate change treaty, in January. So far, no other country has followed the U.S.'s lead and quit. Huang was speaking at a meeting to discuss cooperation on climate change, which China, the European Union and Canada were co-hosting - despite mounting tensions between Brussels and Beijing over trade and China's dominance of global supply chains, including clean technologies like solar panels.
Huang also argued that the Iran war's huge disruption to global oil and gas supplies has strengthened the case for the green transition.
"The energy crisis triggered by the war in Iran has made all parties further recognise that green and low-carbon development, guided by the response to climate change, helps coordinate energy transition and energy security," Huang said.
"The more turbulent and crisis-ridden the world becomes, the more it tests countries' strategic resolve and policy determination in advancing climate action," he said.
Early signs indicate the war is speeding up some countries' shift away from fossil fuels, with countries including Pakistan reporting a jump in electric vehicle sales since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began. However, the war has also prompted some nations to increase the use of coal or oil-based power generation as they struggle to replace gas from the Middle East.
China is the world's biggest CO2 emitter and burns more coal than any other nation. At the same time, the country is also leading the world in developing renewable energy and sales of electric cars - far outpacing any other economy on both fronts.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Hugo Lhomedet; Editing by Aidan Lewis) -- Reuters
