Photo: Xinhua
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- International cooperation is needed to manage the entire planet and keep it habitable, and China has a very important role to play in that, a leading global sustainability scientist said.
"The only way to solve the climate crisis is collective action, we need global universal action and that requires trust," Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and professor of earth system sciences at Potsdam University, told Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum held here on Tuesday.
The expert said climate change, along with the geopolitical crisis and other pressing issues, topped the list of risks at the forum again this year.
Rockström noted that the temperature spike in 2023 will lead to extreme events and "the challenge is even greater than the immediate impacts", and warned that the planet is approaching a tipping point characterised by average temperatures exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above 1850-1900 levels.
The World Meteorological Organization officially confirmed on January 12 that 2023 will be the warmest year since records began, bringing it closer to the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold above pre-industrial levels set by the Paris Agreement.
According to Rockström, a "manageable climate future" depends on one approach: the phasing out of fossil fuels and a concerted conservation effort to ensure that the planet remains resilient, healthy and able to absorb and buffer.
He called for global governance to address threats to the planet and for concerted action across all planetary boundaries.
In 2009 Rockström and 28 other scientists have proposed the concept of "planetary boundaries", which outlines the limits of human impact on the Earth system. Since then, the concept has been at the forefront of international policy discussions, not least at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development.
Greater cooperation and collaboration on global governance across all nine planetary boundaries would help tackle climate change together, the expert said.
When it comes to international cooperation, China has a very important role to play in tackling climate change, Rockström said.
"China is a leader in the transition to solar and wind energy and also a leader in electromobility, essentially moving away from fossil fuel-based transport," he said. "China also has a very mature program in environmental red lines and recognizes the value of keeping nature pristine for security."
Rockström said that the scientific community increasingly sees China playing a leading role in finding pathways to a modern, sustainable pathway for a large economy.
Speaking about economic growth and climate sustainability, Rockström said: "Increasing evidence shows that the transition to sustainability is the only path to economic development in the long term."
Xinhua/GN.CZ-Roz_07
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