Climate Summit Opens; Teenage Activist Attacks ‘Business as Usual’

Wang Yi, a special representative of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, took a swipe at the United States, saying, “China will faithfully fulfill its obligations.” Obliquely referencing Mr. Trump’s plan to abandon the Paris Agreement he added, “The withdrawal of certain parties will not shake the international community.”

China’s decision to not signal higher ambition reflects, in part, concerns about its own slowing economy against the backdrop of conflicts with the United States on trade. It also reflected Beijing’s reluctance to take stronger climate action in the absence of similar moves from richer countries. The European Union hasn’t signaled its intention to cut emissions faster either, and the United States is nowhere on track to meet its original commitments under the Paris accord.

“There’s no particular reason why China should do anything new now, because they’re not getting any pressure from the United States and they’re on track to achieve their commitments,” said Kelly Sims Gallagher, professor of energy and environmental policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

“This extends the limbo while the rest of the world waits to see what the United States is going to be doing in 2020,” she said.

Other major emitters not speaking at the Monday summit are Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Brazil. The Secretary General had said that only those who were ready to announce concrete new steps would be given speaking time.

Their absence underscored a growing global tension over the push to phase out coal, oil and gas.

The pledges being delivered against the United Nation’s green marbled backdrop stood in sharp contrast to the anger that spilled onto the streets Friday, when masses of children and young people protested around the world. On Monday, protesters blocked traffic in Washington to demand a swift pivot away from the world’s fossil fuel-based economy.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, the world’s 20 largest economies, which account for 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, “are not yet taking on transformative climate commitments at the necessary breadth and scale.”