China, Brazil to jointly address climate issues for sustainable growth

As a result of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's ongoing visit to Brazil, China and Brazil Tuesday signed a joint statement on addressing the climate change issue together for a common vision of sustainable development.

According to the statement, both sides recognize that climate change and its adverse effects are the common concern of humankind and one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century, which need to be addressed through international cooperation in the context of sustainable development.

As the world's major developing countries, China and Brazil have undertaken ambitious actions domestically on climate change in such areas as energy efficiency, renewable energy, the forest sector, agriculture and industry. Both sides intend to increase the share of renewable energy in their energy matrices.

The two reaffirmed their commitment to reaching a balanced, comprehensive, equitable and ambitious agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol at the UN Climate Conference to be held in Paris later this year. China and Brazil will work together with other parties, in particular with other BASIC countries which group Brazil, South Africa, India and China, towards this goal, in full accordance with the principles equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

Both China and Brazil reiterated that the 2015 global agreement on climate change shall be in full accordance with the principles, provisions and structure of the UNFCCC, and underscored the need for the provisions of the agreement to fully reflect different responsibilities and development stages of developed and developing countries.

Both sides called for developed countries to take the lead by undertaking ambitious, economy-wide, absolute emission reduction targets and providing financial and technological support to developing countries.

The two also stressed the importance of implementing the outcomes of the Bali Road Map in order to increase the pre-2020 ambition and ensure mutual trust among countries, and the importance of the cooperation and coordination on climate change in the context of the China-Brazil Global Strategic Partnership.

The two sides agreed to further enhance the high-level bilateral dialogue on domestic climate policies and the multilateral process and strengthen their concrete bilateral cooperation, especially in areas of renewable energy, forest sinks, energy conservation, energy efficiency, adaptation and low-carbon urbanization.

Both sides also vowed to intensify their cooperation in the development of solar energy, with a view to diversifying their respective energy matrices and contributing to their mitigation efforts.

They decided to foster cooperation and enhance exchanges of their knowledge on the photovoltaic panels and cells industry and jointly explore business opportunities in this field, as well as to promote investment projects and the establishment of relevant production facilities in Brazil by solar energy enterprises from China.

The two sides will consider these issues and strengthen the bilateral dimensions of climate change and environmental issues under the China-Brazil High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee (COSBAN), the statement said.