Macron and Xi ask for $100 billion a year against climate change

The French president and his Chinese counterpart demanded that developed countries invest $100 billion annually by 2025 to fight climate change, as well as asking them to fulfill their commitment to dedicate that same amount until 2020.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping today demanded that developed countries invest $100 billion annually by 2025 to fight climate change, as well as asking them to fulfill their commitment to dedicate the same amount until 2020.

In a joint statement signed on the occasion of Macron’s visit to China, entitled “Beijing’s call on biodiversity conservation and climate change”, both leaders reaffirm their “firm support for the Paris Agreement”, which they consider “an irreversible process” and a “compass” for “strong action” on climate.

Xi and Macron say they are “determined to make unprecedented efforts to secure the future of the new generations” and to “intensify international efforts” to fight climate change, as well as “accelerate the transition to green development.”

The statement calls on “all countries, international authorities, companies and non-governmental organizations to publish by next year their long-term development strategies until 2050 for lower greenhouse gas emissions.

They also urge the ratification “as soon as possible” of the Kigali reform of the Montreal climate protocol that “can prevent up to 0.4 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century.”

The two heads of state encourage “an active engagement of political leaders at the highest level” in favour of biodiversity as well as working together to “reverse the curve of biodiversity loss” by 2030.

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They also call for commitment to ecosystem restoration and ambitious measures to disrupt and reverse land and marine degradation, recovering at least 30 percent of degraded ecosystems.

Regarding the new goal they set for developed countries to invest 100,000 million dollars per year in the fight against climate change by 2025, both leaders emphasize that the “Green Fund” for the United Nations climate “plays an essential role” to mobilize financial resources to developing countries.

“Mobilize additional resources from all sources, public and private, at the national and international levels in favor of both mitigation and adaptation to climate change,” says the “Beijing Appeal”.

Source: The Economist