SINGAPORE: According to China’s top environment official, the phase-out of fossil fuels is not feasible and that they may continue to be essential to maintaining global energy security.
In response to remarks made by ministers at a forum in Beijing on Thursday( Sept 21) in advance of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai in November, China, the world’s largest consumer of fossil fuels, including fuel and oil, issued Xie Zhenhua as its special weather minister. A picture of the meeting and a version of Xie’s speech were both obtained by Reuters.
After a UN-led world” stocktake” estimated that 20 gigatons of extra carbon dioxide reductions may be required this decade only to prevent temperatures from falling below the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, nations are under pressure to make more optimistic commitments to combat global warming.
At the COP28 weather meeting, the survey will be the main topic of discussion. Proponents are hoping that it will inspire the political can to establish specific goals for reducing coal and fuel use.
But, Xie claimed that in order to protect economic growth, the world must continue to rely on fossil fuels due to the continuous nature of solar energy and the ignorance of important technologies like power storage.
According to Xie, who did represent China at COP28 this year, it is impossible to totally phase out fossil fuel power.
China took the lead in efforts to change the speech of the final contract from” phasing out” of fossil fuels to a more inclusive approach during climate talks in Glasgow in 2021. Additionally, China encourages the use of respite technologies like carbon storage and capture.