As nations jockey for position ahead of next month’s UN climate talks, the most significant of its kind since the Paris accord was sealed three years ago, negotiators are beating a path in a new direction: to Beijing.
China has emerged as the powerbroker in global climate talks, helping fill a leadership vacuum created by Donald Trump’s decision last year to pull the US out of the international agreement.
For the first time, China is hosting many of the preparatory meetings that are crucial for setting the direction of the Cop 24 summit, taking place in the city of Katowice, Poland. The role reversal is all the more surprising because Beijing for many years shunned a leadership role in climate talks.