by Zhao Xiaopeng

 

 

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (China Economic Net) - "Developed countries, which bear historical responsibility for climate change, should take primary responsibility for addressing the issue and provide financial and technological support to developing countries. However, their promises to assist the most vulnerable are long overdue," said Sha Zukang, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General, to China Economic Net.

 

Sha Zukang made the remark while attending the Global Development Forum on Green Economy, which was held just at  the beginning of the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services on September 12, 2024.

 

Amid global response to climate change and the promotion of the carbon neutrality, Sha Zukang specifically mentioned the EU’s CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism), the new Battery Act, shipping carbon emission reduction, etc., which have ushered in the era of carbon tariffs. Following this trend, G7 member countries such as UK, US, Canada, and Japan have subsequently introduced carbon border taxes.

 

"It is clear that these are all developed countries, not developing countries in the Global South," the former diplomat hinted.

 

Responding to climate change and promoting carbon neutrality are shared goals and actions for all countries worldwide. “No single country or group of countries, regardless of their level of development or power, can achieve this alone,” Sha emphasized, “this is the consensus of the international community; otherwise, there would not have been the Paris Agreement”.

 

China has been advocating that developed and developing countries, disparate in historical emission responsibilities and varying in levels of development, should bear common but differentiated responsibilities. 

 

However, “The CBAM being implemented is a typical example of a ‘producer responsibility mechanism’. Given the differing roles in the industrial division of labor, the international community should promote the principle of ‘shared responsibility between producers and consumers’, which can form the basis for establishing a carbon emission responsibility mechanism,” Sha Zukang concluded.