China at COP27: CBDR, national sovereignty, and climate justice

ABSTRACT

Based on event ethnography conducted at the UNFCCC COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, this article examines the contradictory ways in which China, as a key actor in global climate negotiations, has shaped climate (in)justice, as well as how the spatiality of the COP reinforces inequity. Despite the important role China has played in promoting equity for developing countries through advocating for the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) and of national sovereignty throughout the UNFCCC process, China’s discursive deployment of both principles in negotiations exacerbates existing injustices between countries and at scales below the nation-state. Both principles were useful in achieving unity to successfully press for the establishment of the Loss and Damage fund. Nevertheless, the ways in which they are deployed also compromise the interests of marginalized peoples, especially those residing in countries that belong to the Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. This is particularly the case when principles of CBDR and national sovereignty are combined with procedural arguments and apparently technical discussions. These limited the scales and manifestations of injustice that could be addressed through the UNFCCC process.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP)
• scale
• spatiality
• Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR)
• national sovereignty
• climate justice
• negotiations
• Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC)
• Loss and Damage

Acknowledgements

We thank the special issue guest editors for organizing this event ethnography project, and the reviewers for comments that improved earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129947#:~:text=The%20Blue%20Zone%20is%20a,double%20the%20amount%20at%20Glasgow.

2 https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/COP27-malaysia-focus-adaptation-climate-finance-and-showcasing-local-solutions. At COP28 in Dubai, similarly, we were told that Bhutan’s small pavilion cost roughly $450,000.

3 https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201912/20/WS5dfc5dbea310cf3e3557f874.html.

4 https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/i-spy-cop27-delegates-wary-egyptian-surveillance-app-2022-11-17/.

5 Naveeda Khan’s (2023) In Quest of a Shared Planet was published toward the end of the long revision process of this article. Based on ethnography of COP negotiations from the perspective of Bangaldesh, it makes similar arguments about CBDR.

6 https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/cop27-island-nations-want-china-india-pay-climate-damage-2022-11-08/

7 https://www.carbonbrief.org/COP27-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-climate-talks-in-sharm-el-sheikh/.

8 https://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/national-climate-change-adaptation-strategy-2035/.

9 Decision-COP/.27 ‘Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan.’ 2022. UNFCCC. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cop27_auv_2_cover%20decision.pdf .

10 ‘Submissions on options for the tables and outlines for the information required and options for implementing the infrastructure requirements referred to in Article 6.2, of the Paris Agreement.’ 2022. https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202204071533---China_s%20Submission%20on%20Article%206.2%20of%20the%20Paris%20Agreement.pdf.

11 FCCC/PA/CMA/2021/10/Add.1 Para.6 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2021_10a01E.pdf.

12 Draft Decision-/CMA.4 Para.29 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma4_auv_14_PA6.4.pdf.

13 https://www.c2es.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/what-does-the-cop26-outcome-on-article-6-mean-for-non-party-stakeholders.pdf.

14 https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202104131736---Carbon%20Market%20Watch%20Art6%20April%202021%20submission.pdf.

15 https://climatenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ECO-12.11.2022.pdf.

16 https://climatefalsesolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/HOODWINKED_ThirdEdition_On-Screen_version.pdf.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emily T. Yeh

Emily T. Yeh is a professor of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research has included studies of vulnerability to and indigenous knowledge of climate change, the political ecology of pastoralism, climate justice, environmentalism, and the politics of nature conservation on the Tibetan Plateau.

Emma R. Loizeaux

Emma R. Loizeaux is a PhD researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her doctoral research focuses on political economies of carbon capture and storage technology development in the US and China and their implications for climate justice.