Chapter 1165 Turning passivity into initiative
In fact, these suggestions made by Zheng Guogang are not the first time that China has made them.
As early as the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, similar statements had appeared many times.
But this is the first time that a complete emission reduction plan has been systematically put on the table for discussion by China.
And this is not in line with China's low-key style in the past ten years.
Therefore, many members of delegations from other countries did not even react immediately.
Most of them are still immersed in the passionate battle between China and the United States.
But that didn't last long.
Soon, someone figured out something was wrong——
Determine emission limits based on population?
Or was it proposed by China?
Not only that, but also the historical emissions data accumulated since the Industrial Revolution must be removed first?
Well, you have 1.3 billion people, and industrialization has happened in the last 50 years, so of course you are happy.
An additional 10% reduction in emissions sounds better in words than in words, but in real terms it still stands out by a long way.
Do other countries still have to live together?
After all, the United States has a population of more than 300 million, but the problem is still second.
Countries in Europe that industrialized early and now have small populations, such as the three Low Countries and the Nordic countries, wouldn't their emission limits become negative based on this method?
You should know that although the emission reduction part of the Kyoto Protocol is not mandatory, it sets out a very key content, which is the carbon emissions trading system.
The next stage of the plan for various countries, of course mainly developed countries, is to combine carbon emission limits with the carbon trading market.
In this way, we only need to transfer low-end industries with relatively large emissions to developing countries, and then earn back the money spent through carbon emissions trading, which can permanently lock the development ceiling of these third world countries.
But now that China is so involved...
How to have fun?
Let alone selling carbon emission rights to others, I am afraid that the whole world will have to look to India and Bangladesh and other countries with huge population bases but not very high industrial output to buy carbon emission rights.
But if you want to refute the Chinese...
On the one hand, other people's statements are well-founded and they have proactively made a promise to give in 10%. Coupled with the power of the American representative who just defeated him, no one is willing to be the first to get into trouble.
On the other hand, although everyone is a dirty bunch in private, at the beginning of the 21st century, at least on the surface they still maintain a decent personality.
Protecting developing countries is almost as politically correct as protecting the environment.
In the past, developed countries usually bribed representatives from a few small countries to do this kind of work of tearing apart X, and they only acted as the controller behind the scenes.
Until the result is almost decided, he will end up as a controversial terminator.
They say, "Let me say a few words of justice," but in fact they are not fair at all.
But this time, most countries only guessed that China would confront the United States, but no one expected that the former would take this opportunity to put forward such a constructive opinion...
Naturally, I was not prepared.
As a result, the scene froze in place for a while.
The representatives looked at me, and I looked at you, and finally almost unanimously turned their attention to the French and German representatives present——
There is no doubt that according to the calculation method proposed by Cai Xia just now, the most disadvantaged countries must be a number of small developed European countries.
In the discussion of climate issues after entering the 21st century, the EU as a whole is taken into consideration.
But as we all know, the typical EU official combines Italian organization, German flexibility, French humility, Belgian imagination, Dutch generosity and Irish intelligence.
In other words, nothing can be accomplished.
Therefore, in 2004, some European countries will still send separate representatives to participate in the conference.
For example, Germany and France are the engines of Europe.
And considering that China has become very close to Europe in recent years, letting them put forward opinions will not make the atmosphere too tense.
However, the German and French delegations directly carried forward the ostrich spirit and pretended that nothing happened.
Because they don't actually want to refute.
As just mentioned, the EU acts as a whole when calculating carbon emission rights and conducting carbon trading internationally.
But if we break it down, we still need to set an internal limit for each country.
Therefore, Germany and France can instead use the plan proposed by China as a bargaining chip to strengthen their voice within the EU framework. As for the issue of carbon emissions...
First of all, no one thinks that China’s plan can be passed as it is.
Even though China seems to have the upper hand now, formal negotiations for a truly mandatory emissions treaty will not begin until around 2007.
Finally there is the voting process.
No matter how bad it looks, countries with vested interests will not be able to approve such a document with outrageous contents.
There will always be compromises.
Secondly, even if it is passed, the EU can expand its population by absorbing a number of Central and Eastern European countries, and then transfer the carbon emission credits of these countries to Western Europe through the EU accession agreement.
I'm really not in a hurry.
Just when the host couldn't stand it anymore and was about to forcefully end China's long speech, the Russian Federation delegation, which had not been noticed until now, spoke unexpectedly.
"We believe that although the suggestions put forward by the Chinese representatives are very constructive, there are still several serious loopholes."
The host who just touched the microphone sat back down instantly.
No one expected that it was the Russians, who seemed to be on the side of China, who were the first to question it.
But soon, they realized something was wrong...
“First of all, the cost of basic survival for some countries in the cold zone is higher than that of tropical and subtropical countries. Therefore, this should be taken into account, and the impact of these countries on the territory of high latitudes or the average annual temperature should be considered. The state will compensate.”
"Secondly, when a country produces carbon dioxide, its domestic resources such as forests and grasslands will also absorb and store carbon dioxide. However, the current method of calculating carbon emissions based on satellite remote sensing cannot involve this part. Therefore, it should be calculated in the net Then subtract this part before the emissions..."
"..."
Obviously, this series of proposals is not so much questioning as it is checking for deficiencies.
And it's even more outrageous.
You Russians have 8.2 million square kilometers of forest and 3 million square kilometers of northern boreal land, which together are larger than the total land area of Canada.
Do you want some more face?
Fortunately, after taking the first step, other countries have also expressed their attitudes.
For example, the representative of the United States who had been pretending to be dead just now stood up and said that compared with land, the ocean itself and aquatic plants have a more obvious effect on absorbing carbon dioxide, so the area of territorial waters and exclusive economic zones should also be taken into consideration.
Representatives of the GCC countries believe that considering that fossil fuels are still the basis for the survival and development of all mankind, it should be considered that countries that produce fossil fuels, especially oil and natural gas, are shouldering the responsibility for carbon emissions for all mankind and need to There are exemptions based on fossil fuel production or export volumes when calculating emissions limits.
There are also some countries that really want to reach a consensus and believe that neither the head count nor the area is reasonable. Instead, the total amount generated per unit of GDP should be calculated...
In short, this time, the entire conference hall has almost become a vegetable market.
Even when the Chinese representative stepped down from the stage, not many people noticed.
Zheng Guogang, who returned to his seat, shook hands with Ding Zhongli excitedly...
After a successful counterattack, we proposed our country's motion on climate issues while the iron was hot. This part was not part of the original plan.
It was proposed by the latter before departure.
In this timeline, because many things have not happened, China is not very weak in terms of momentum.
Therefore, the superior leaders finally approved this somewhat tit-for-tat suggestion.
This was the sudden attack just now.
Like all other representatives, Ding Zhongli and Zheng Guogang did not expect the proposal itself to be passed from the beginning.
However, being able to speak out not only on behalf of oneself but also on behalf of the majority of third world countries despite being suppressed in the past is a great attempt in itself.
Not to mention, China also successfully guided the direction of the entire discussion, completely turning passivity into initiative, and made a pretty good comeback.
"It really worked..."
Ding Zhong tried his best to lower his voice.
But he couldn't suppress the excitement in his tone...
(End of chapter)