In Glasgow, COP26 will open in a gloomy atmosphere because of China

Showered hopes? On Thursday, three days before the opening of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, China unveiled its climate targets. The new “national contribution” (NDC) of the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases was eagerly awaited, with some observers hoping it could boost the ambitions of this crucial climate conference, as the devastating effects of the change climate are increasingly felt: mega-fires, heat waves, floods …

Measures in contradiction with the 1.5 ° objective

But this will obviously not be the case, since Beijing unsurprisingly resumes the main commitments already formulated by Chinese President Xi Jinping. That is to say, reach its peak of emissions “before 2030” and carbon neutrality “before 2060”. A pace far too slow to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, an objective impossible to achieve if China does not do its part.

A distant Xi Jinping, and at a distance

Objectives all the more disappointing for the other participants of the COP26 as experts believe that China can do much more for the climate: with the increase of “its installed capacity of solar and wind energy to 1.2 billion kW by 2030 “, it is a real renewable industry that Beijing is in the process of setting up. China could therefore take advantage of this to reduce the place of coal in its energy, but does not seem to do so since it intends to increase its forest “stock” by 6 billion cubic meters compared to 2005.

This question of coal will also be addressed on Saturday at the G20. But Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend by videoconference, as for COP26. Quite a symbol.