EU asks China to stop construction of coal plants due to climate crisis

The main official of the European Union for the climate said Thursday that China should stop building coal-fired industrial plants and contribute to a global aid fund for poor countries affected by the climate change.

EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra raised the two issues in what he called intensive and open talks with his Chinese counterparts ahead of UN climate talks in Dubai later this month.

Europe and the United States argue that richer emerging economies such as China and Saudi Arabia should also contribute to the fund. Hoekstra said that what is valid for the European Union and North America should also be for any country in a position of economic and geopolitical strength.

“And do our part to pay the bills of those who can’t.”said.

Given the magnitude of the problem, “every country able to pay and with the capacity to contribute should contribute”he added.

A statement from the Chinese Environment Ministry did not refer to the climate fund for poor countries. He said that the Minister of Ecology and Environment, Huang Runqiu, expressed to Hoekstra his desire to collaborate with the EU for the success of the climate meeting of the UN.

Success will allow the creation of an equitable, reasonable, cooperative and beneficial system for all when facing climate change, he stressed.

Hoekstra congratulated the Chinese government on its recent steps to begin reducing methane gas emissions, but said more needs to be done.

China unveiled a methane action plan last week, and a joint U.S.-China climate statement this week talks about an agreement to jointly address the issue.

China has rushed to build coal-fired industrial plants in large numbers after electricity shortages in the south during a heat wave and a drought in the summer of 2022.