COP28: China supports 'substituting' fossil fuels with renewables, criticizes trade protectionism

China supports gradually substituting fossil fuels with renewables, and opposes trade barriers and protectionism in the deployment of climate-friendly technologies, its Special Climate Envoy Xie Zhenhua said at a press conference in Dubai over the weekend.

The press conference was held amid wrangling by nation states over the final language around the controversial phasing out of fossil fuels in the final agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference, with OPEC warning its member countries that a phaseout of fossil fuels would jeopardize their economies.

Xie said after the first week of talks, the conference was shifting from the technical level to the political level, and ministerial level consultations were ongoing.

There are too many problems to work through, and if the final result of COP28 can be a very clear and logical solution to key issues, especially issues that everyone is most concerned about, this conference will be a success, Xie told reporters, according to a transcript published by Chinese media Eleven Finance Men. Parts of the transcript were also released by state-owned media.

When asked whether China supports the phaseout of fossil fuels, Xie repeated China's commitment in the US-China Sunnylands Statement released in November to accelerate renewable energy deployment through 2030 from 2020 levels to substitute coal, oil and gas.

"We will not predict the final outcome [of COP28], but we accept this commitment, because it reflects the common ground, the general trend of energy transition and innovation, as well as the spirit of the Paris Agreement," Xie said.

Xie also said China has started tightly controlling its coal consumption and will gradually cut coal consumption after 2025. China also plans to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and is working toward a more specific target that is yet to be announced, he added.

Criticizing trade barriers

A key agenda for China at COP28 is to build more clean energy partnerships with developing countries to explore new markets and negotiate with developed countries like the US and EU to address "trade barriers."

China currently dominates clean energy supply chains, such as solar PVs, wind turbines and electric vehicles. Out of supply chain security concerns, the US and EU have started to diversify their supply sources and incentivized domestic production to reduce dependency on China's clean energy products.

At COP28, a Germany-led Climate Club was launched with 36 countries aiming to "jointly develop strategies and standards for a climate-neutral industry," following a G7 statement in July 2022 under Germany's presidency.

The group excludes China and India, and raised concerns that the club will introduce carbon taxes, like the EU's CBAM, to penalize countries outside the club for emission-intensive products.

Xie declined to comment on the Climate Club. "But we support climate-friendly, zero-carbon and low-carbon technologies and products. Meanwhile, we support fair trades and oppose unilateralism, trade protectionism," he said.

"Climate actions are to safeguard the earth and benefit our future generations. Everyone should be supportive instead of setting trade barriers and constraints. Doing so is not beneficial to combating climate change, a common cause of mankind. We do not agree with that," he said

Xie also expressed concerns over the US Inflation Reduction Act or IRA, which incentivizes domestic production of clean energy products and attracts clean energy investments.

"But IRA protects domestic technologies and products. Why not treat technologies and products from other countries equally?" he said.

"They are all electric vehicles Some are produced in the US. Some are produced elsewhere then entering the US market. Why can't they enjoy the same treatment? From this perspective, I don't think this is a good way to do things," Xie said.