China urges wealthy nations to address poor countries' concerns at COP28

China looks forward to seeing a full response to developing nations' concerns at this year's COP28 United Nations climate change conference, a Ministry of Ecology and Environment official said on Friday.

At a news conference in Beijing, Xia Yingxian, the ministry's top official on tackling climate change, underscored the need to respect the different conditions of every country.

COP28, to be held in the United Arab Emirates from Nov 30 to Dec 12, will mark the conclusion of the first Global Stocktake, a comprehensive assessment of the progress made in achieving the goals of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.

Xia said that while assessing global progress and gap in the implementation of the 2015 treaty in a comprehensive and balanced manner, the parties involved should also use the stocktake as an opportunity to exchange the results of their actions and best practices.

Effective measures should be rolled out at COP28 to assess the gap in developed nations' implementation of the Paris treaty and whether they had taken the lead in cutting carbon emissions and fulfilled their obligations to support developing countries through financing, technology and capacity building, he said.

"Developed countries bear an unshakable historical responsibility for global climate change and also now have the capacity to address it," Xia said.

Wealthy nations should roll out concrete actions to honor their commitment to provide $100 billion a year for climate action in developing countries, he said. It was supposed to have been achieved in 2020.

They should also work out a clear roadmap to double adaptation finance for poor nations, as promised.

Xia said China looked forward to seeing the parties reach a solid decision on the global climate adaptation goal, deliver funding arrangements for loss and damage, and proactively respond to the appeals of developing countries for support in funding, technology and capacity building.