The world’s two largest economies on Wednesday committed to promote renewable energy as a way of dealing with climate change.
US President Barrack Obama and China President Xi Jinping, in separate messages at the Apec CEO Summit at Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City, stressed the need for countries to achieve goals on climate change.
They also cited the need for cooperation among countries to sustain what is left of the planet by promoting the use of renewal energy and alternative sources of energy.
“The urgent and growing threat of climate change is a challenge but I will argue, it is also an opportunity. No nation is immune to the consequences of the climate. With many low-lying islands, the coastal regions vulnerable to flooding and land loss, a few regions have more stake in meeting these challenges than the Asia Pacific,” Obama said in his keynote speech.
Obama said typhoon Haiyan which hit the Philippines in 2013 was a reminder of the vulnerability of Pacific countries to extreme weather.
“Here in the Philippines you’re barely removed by about two years from super typhoon Haiyan , a storm that claimed thousands of lives and caused billions of dollars in damage,” he said.
Obama cited Philippine efforts to boost wind and solar power in the country as well as Apec’s efforts to double renewable capacity in the region over the next two decades.
Obama also cited China’s pledge “to peak and reduce its carbon emissions.”
“The international community helps developing nations change and leapfrog from the dirtier phases of development. Right here in the Philippines, there are major investments in solar projects,” he said.
Obama said there was no contradiction between growth, development and being good stewards of the environment. “They are complementary. We have to break out of that mindset,” he said.
Meanwhile, China committed to strengthen its capacity to adapt to climate change. “In this regard, we also call on Asia Pacific countries to step up cooperation,” Xi said.
China said efforts to conserve the environment prompted a joint solidarity statement with the US and another separate joint statement on climate change with France.
“But we’ll stick to our basic strategy of resource conservation and environmental protection,” Xi said.
The two largest economies said they were still grappling with the challenge of a slowing global demand that would impact on the global economy.
China said it was working vigorously to overcome difficulties and meet challenges by strengthening macro regulations and adopting a more open economy while the US confirmed that its economy was also impacted by weakening demand around the world.
The two economies have yet to meet eye to eye on political issues, even as both have similar goals in clipping the effects of climate change on a global level.