EU and China stand firm in support of Paris climate deal

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union and China reaffirmed their cooperation to tackle climate change and their support for the Paris Agreement at a bilateral summit in Brussels on Friday.

The summit, attended by Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang, with EU Council president Donald Tusk and Commission president Juncker on the European side, agreed to establish a closer partnership on climate action and the clean energy transition.

"We are stepping up our cooperation on climate change with China," said EU president Donald Tusk: "Which means that today, China and Europe have demonstrated solidarity with future generations and responsibility for the whole planet."

As major energy consumers and importers, the two sides highlighted the importance of fostering cooperation on energy. China expressed agreement with the EU's unhappiness at U.S. president Trump's rejection of the Paris agreement.

In their statement on climate change,

• the EU and China committed to develop long-term decarbonisation plans by 2020 and to cooperate on their formulation through regular technical dialogues; this means that the EU and China will join forces to develop guidebooks for how to manage the transition to zero-emissions economy;
• the EU and China committed to work together on very specific elements of the energy transition through the 2017-2018 Work Plan of the EU-China Roadmap on Energy Cooperation, which includes the organisation of a range of workshops and seminars on renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy market design and grid development as well as expert dialogues on the deployment of zero emission vehicles; especially the last will be very beneficial for the EU as China is miles ahead in the development of electric vehicles;
• the EU and China committed to set up triangular cooperation on promoting the zero carbon transition in developing countries, thereby both supporting specific projects on the ground in vulnerable countries and enlarging the coalition of countries moving forward with the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The declaration was welcomed by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, whose director Wendel Trio said: "Never before have these two countries worked so closely together to tackle climate change [...] We hope that the two partners will now move from statements to action and scale up their respective Paris climate pledges before 2020 in order to be able to reach the long term commitment of the Paris Agreement to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C."

Also at the summit, leaders exchanged views on foreign policy and security challenges, including the situation in the Korean Peninsula. They also discussed ways to improve cooperation on human rights at the bilateral and international level.

At an EU-China business summit taking place in the margins of the summit, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding to start a dialogue on state aid control. This will create a mechanism of consultation, cooperation and transparency between China and the EU in the field of state aid control.

EU-China relations - questions & answers

19th EU-China Summit website