China rejects UK criticism over pressure on coal after climate summit

LondonNOVEMBER 15 – China on Monday rejected criticism that it had helped weaken the terms of a coal phase-out in the conference’s closing statement. COP26, arguing that it had already made “enormous efforts” to reduce consumption of the highly polluting fuel.

head COP26Britain’s Alok Sharma said on Sunday that China and India owe it to developing countries to explain why they were pushing to soften the terms of the final settlement of the meeting.

Climate talks organized by the United Nations in Glasgow, Scotland, concluded on Saturday with an agreement that focused for the first time on the use of fossil fuels.

But India, backed by China and other developing countries that depend on fossil fuels, rejected a clause calling for a “phasing out” of coal-fired power, and the text was amended to call for a “phasing out”.

“In terms of China and India, they will have to explain this particular issue,” Sharma said at a press conference in Downing Street in London.

Asked about Sharma’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the Asian nation had already made “tremendous efforts” to control coal consumption.

He added that energy transitions should be based on the conditions of each country and the security of supplies from developing countries should be ensured.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “In my English, there doesn’t seem to me much difference between ‘phasing out’ and ‘phasing out’.”

“The direction of flight is practically the same,” he said.

Johnson said that COP26 It produced a mandate to reduce the use of coal electricity generation backed by actual actions from each country.

“When you add it all up, there is no doubt that Glasgow has given the merciless coup to generating electricity from coal,” he told a news conference.

However, he emphasized, progress was disappointing as the agreement did not go further than that anyway.

“Unfortunately, that is the nature of diplomacy,” he said. “We can pressure, we can try to persuade, we can encourage, but we can’t force sovereign nations to do what they don’t want to do,” he said.