SHANGHAI (Dispatches) – Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged major powers to “show responsibility” and play a leading role in improving global environmental governance and addressing such challenges as climate change.
Speaking via video link at the opening ceremony of the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Li said countries should use the United Nations to draw up global rules and create a governance system that is fair, reasonable and benefit-sharing.
“The international community must use unprecedented determination and action to promote the construction of a beautiful world in which humanity is in harmony with nature,” he added.
China has been promoting the concept of “harmony with nature” and the use of “nature-based solutions” as it prepares to host global negotiations on a new biodiversity accord, set to get underway in the south-western city of Kunming in October.
Beijing submitted a draft “Kunming Declaration” to international partners last week, which included several concepts now being promoted by China’s ruling party.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry held two days of talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Tianjin this week, urging Chinese leaders to ensure that politics was kept out of climate change discussions.
Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told Kerry that climate “cannot be separated” from the wider diplomatic issues between the two countries.

Europe to Miss 2030 Goal at Current Pace

Europe will miss a key climate target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 years unless it picks up the pace on energy transition measures and improves governance, a study involving Europe’s biggest utility Enel said.
At the current pace, Europe will only reach its 2030 target for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gases in 2051, a study by Enel Foundation and the European House-Ambrosetti said.
In July, Brussels unveiled a raft of ambitious measures in its ‘Fit for 55’ package aimed at putting the European Union on track to meet the 2030 goal of reducing emissions by 55% from 1990 levels.
The study, presented on Saturday, said investments of around 3.6 trillion euros ($4.3 trillion) were needed across the bloc to reach 2030 goals, with a potential cumulative impact on the EU’s economic growth of more than 8 trillion euros.
But it warned the EU needed to step up its efforts if this potential was to be realized.
“It is necessary to accelerate and equip ourselves with a governance system which is adequate to the extent of the challenge and capable of translating intentions into concrete action,” Enel Chief Executive Francesco Starace said.