30.09.2022
China and India asked SCO countries to find a balance in approaches to climate
Photo by: Emilio Navarino / iStock
China and India among the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) have called for a balance in approaches to climate policy in a joint statement. This was reported by Reuters.
The SCO leaders said they unanimously recognised the negative consequences of climate change and the need for urgent action.
The group members also criticised measures to force countries to reduce at a set pace, saying states have the right to set their own national goals to prevent global warming.
“Unilateral coercive measures violate multilateral principles, seriously undermine multilateral cooperation and collective and national efforts to combat climate change, and weaken the ability of countries to combat climate change,” the joint statement by SCO leaders said.
The SCO members also spoke out against calls for the mass abandonment of polluting fuels in favour of cleaner renewable energy sources.
“It is important to take advantage of the common and complementary advantages of fossil fuels and clean energy sources and, in this regard, to increase investment in fossil fuel exploration and production,” SCO officials said.
The SCO leaders also criticised countries that have tried “to use the climate agenda to impose measures to restrict trade and investment cooperation”.
This includes efforts by the European Union to impose a carbon tax. It proposes to levy a duty on goods imported into the EU in proportion to the amount of CO2 emitted during their production.
This is intended to protect EU producers from unfair competition from manufacturers who are not subject to the same environmental standards. The tariffs could affect exports of vital goods from Russia, as well as a number of industrial goods from China, India and Pakistan, members of the SCO.
Environmental scientists say the world’s nations need to start reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere no later than 2050 to limit the average global surface temperature increase to within 1.5 °C by 2050.
Recall the SCO was established in June 2001 in Shanghai at a meeting of heads of six states — Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Cover photo: PRABHASROY / iStock
Other news
Comments