Former PM rages over China’s ‘reckless thirst’
The 26th prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, will be speaking at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit on 17 September 2020. Register here for your tickets.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has slammed China over its “thirst” for coal in an opinion article for the Washington Post, saying the nation’s view is “shortsighted and environmentally reckless”.
China has approved the construction of more coal-fired power plants this year than in the previous two years combined, in a move that Rudd said has sent a “shiver down the spines of environmentalists”.
The 26th prime minister of Australia wrote that China would be unlikely to meet its own commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to peak its emissions by 2030 if the new plants were built.
And if China doesn’t meet its goal, it risks the world’s collective long-term goal to keep temperature increases within 1.5 degrees Celsius, Rudd said.
Also read: How to fix Australia’s labour woes
In an interview with The Diplomat, Rudd said that China played a pivotal role in the Paris agreement, and their support had been “transformational” for the fight against climate change.
“There would quite simply be no Paris Agreement without China, and it is China that deserves the most credit for holding that framework together after [US] President Trump announced his intention to withdraw from it,” he said.
But if China continues with its plan to construct these coal plants, the country risks unraveling the good will it has done so far, Rudd added.
“This will especially be the case in the eyes of many vulnerable developing countries, including the world’s lowest-lying island nations that could face even greater risks if these plants are built.”
The 26th prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, will be speaking at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit on 17 September 2020. Register here for your tickets.
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