Chinese diplomats will arrive in Azerbaijan with a message for the UN COP29 climate conference. In the “real world”, they will argue, China is racing ahead of schedule in its efforts to decarbonise its economy. It is also helping the developing world do the same via its booming renewable energy and electric vehicle industries, as well as its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
Chinese officials, meanwhile — in line with recent discussions with diplomats and other foreign visitors — are expected to push back at moves from Washington and Brussels that link negotiations over climate change to Beijing’s industrial policy and trade practices. They will also be increasingly assertive in highlighting China’s efforts to finance the green transition in the developing world, despite western calls for Beijing to be more ambitious.
And, with COP29 opening after Donald Trump’s US presidential election win, expectations that the country will withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change have been raised.