China ‘concerned’ about Trump’s climate impact, says Beijing envoy

BAKU, Azerbaijan — China is worried about the upheaval Donald Trump might bring to the fight against climate change, Beijing’s top climate envoy Liu Zhenmin said Monday.

“The international situation has really changed — we’re also concerned about the United States after the election,” he said, speaking to reporters before a side event at the COP29 U.N. climate talks in Azerbaijan.

Trump has promised to yet again withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which almost 200 countries signed in 2015. The pact commits countries to a goal of keeping global warming ideally to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Trump has also pledged a major shift in policy focus to further ramp up American oil and gas production, already the largest in the world.

“Everybody’s concerned about next steps … whether after the U.S. election, U.S. climate policy will or won’t change,” said Liu. “But most colleagues [here at COP] still feel that regardless if a country’s climate policy changes or doesn’t change, international multilateral climate cooperation should continue.”

China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas polluter, has cooperated with the Biden administration despite major tensions in other areas of their relationship. Liu and his U.S. counterpart John Podesta held talks in September ahead of COP29.

Other Chinese diplomats were also voicing their concern about Trump on Monday. Foreign Ministry Deputy Head of European Affairs Cao Lei said the election may be “the turning point of [our] times” in comments reported by the South China Morning Post.

“No one wants to return to the law of the jungle, no one wants to go back to the era of confrontation and the Cold War, and no one wants to return to unilateral hegemony. This is the backdrop that China-EU relations are facing,” Cao said.

Despite Trump’s win, the U.S. delegation in Baku was still trying to pressure China to do more to address its own emissions.

Podesta noted in a press conference on Monday that China has its own work to do on climate. He said he expected China to come forward with a climate target improving on its current goal to stop greenhouse gas emissions growing around 2030.

China’s economy has “really already peaked emissions,” Podesta said. “They can be more ambitious. I think it will send a powerful signal to the world.”