Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and officials representing the union sign agreement committing the two sides to fully implement the accord
China and the European Union have pledged unity in fighting climate change on Friday, a day after US President Donald Trump announced his nation’s withdrawal from the Paris accord. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and top EU officials agreed a joint statement, backed by all 28 EU states, committing the bloc and China to full implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, after their meeting ended in Brussels. The joint statement, the first between the China and the EU, commits them to cutting back on fossil fuels, developing more green technology and helping raise US$100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer countries cut their emissions. That figure was agreed before the US withdrawal announcement. It was not immediately clear whether China and the European Union would step in to fill any shortfall. Li, while giving a keynote speech at the 12th EU-China Business Summit earlier, said China and the EU were confronting growing global “uncertainties” with a stable relationship. The joint agreement between China and the EU came just a day after Trump provoked worldwide disappointment and anger by announcing plans to withdraw from the Paris pact, which curbs fossil-fuel production. In a Rose Garden announcement on Thursday, Trump framed the decision as one made in the best interests of his country, saying the Paris deal was “very unfair, at the highest level” to the US energy sector. China would “be allowed to build hundreds of additional coal plants” and “increase its emissions by a staggering number of years –13”. Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, said his administration would begin negotiations either to re-enter the Paris accord or to have a new agreement “on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers.
