China on Monday asked developed countries to first stop using coal and provide financial aid to developing countries to adopt green technologies, as it defended its move to join hands with India in calling for "phase down" instead of "phase out" of coal in the final text of the COP26 conference declaration.
Negotiators from nearly 200 countries accepted a new climate agreement after the COP26 summit in Glasgow concluded on Saturday with a deal, which recognises India's intervention for the world to "phase down" rather than "phase out" fossil fuels. "Low carbon transformation is an overriding trend and the goal all countries are working towards," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
He was responding to a question on COP26 chairman Alok Sharma's reported comments that China and India need to explain to developing nations why they watered down the language on efforts to phase out coal at the conference and rejected calls for "phasing out" coal firepower instead opted to "phasing down". Zhao said, "We encourage developed countries to stop using coal first and also hope they can provide support to financing technology to developing countries."
Chinese official media has criticised the Western media for targeting China and India for pressing "phase down" use of coal power instead of "phase out" in the final text adopted by 197 countries at the COP26 conference which concluded last week.
