A crucial UN meeting on climate change is ongoing in Katowice, Poland. Due to end this Friday, this is the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP24), bringing together policy-makers and climate technology innovators from across the world hopefully setting broader implementation guidelines to manage the targets under the Paris Agreement. 

Back in 2015, during the COP21 meeting, the participating nations pledged to try and limit global warming to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The current conference, however, is expected to produce a rule book determining how the countries should monitor their greenhouse emissions, report on their climate improvement efforts and hold each other accountable.

The conference is being held at a crucial juncture when natural disasters such as extreme heat waves, forest fires, droughts, storms, floods etc. are becoming more frequent and with increased intensity, producing horrifying consequences. 

It is affecting biodiversity and people's lives and livelihoods. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its report released on Oct. 18, stated that humanity is involved in a race for survival against climate change. 

The report indicates the big difference in risk between what seems to be a narrow margin between global warming of 1.5 and 2 degrees, but holds out hope that, from a technical perspective, it is possible to keep to the lower figure. 

However, this requires technological innovations and unprecedented adjustments in society's behavior and lifestyle. This could be achieved by drastically reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030 through the decarbonization of electricity production and improving energy efficiency in different sectors such as transportation and manufacturing. 

Similarly, different studies conducted by NASA also indicate the adverse impact of climate change on the Earth's atmosphere. It stated that the current warming trend is most likely the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and is proceeding at an unprecedented rate.

It has become clear that the issue of climate change requires immediate global attention. China, in the last few years, has progressively tightened regulations on carbon emissions, strengthened law enforcement and invested heavily in renewable energy sources. 

Moreover, in its commitment to the United Nations, made in 2015, it vowed to cut greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent compared 2005 levels. This included increasing the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to about 20 percent by 2030. 

This is to be achieved by increasing installed capacity of wind power to 200 GW and solar power to around 100 GW, up from 95.81 GW and 28 GW as of November 2015. China's overall investment in clean energy technologies in 2017 was approximately US$132.6 billion, up 24 percent from 2016. 

China is also heavily investing in the installation of solar power panels and electric cars. It overtook the U.S. as the largest market for electric vehicles in 2015 with over 200,000 registrations. 

The American decision to pull out from the Paris Agreement was a major setback to COP24's ambitions. Back in 2015, while signing the agreement, the Obama administration had pledged US$3 billion to the Green Climate Fund meant to aid emerging countries to reduce carbon emissions and deal with climate change effects, including rising sea levels. 

Of this amount, only US$1 billion had been transferred by the time President Donald Trump took office in January 2016 and withdrew the commitment. He argued that the Paris Agreement would strangle the American economy and lead to major job losses. 

Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative on climate change, last month reiterated China's commitment to honor the Paris Agreement and insisted that it is important to continue the negotiations on its implementation rules. "China has already fulfilled its target for the amount of carbon dioxide produced per unit of GDP three years earlier than the deadline," he was quoted as saying by CGTN. 

The year 2018 witnessed some of the biggest natural disasters such as super storms like Irma, Maria and Mangkhut, wildfires of California, etc. This however is just the tip of the iceberg and much bigger catastrophes could take place resulting in the loss of many lives if urgent action is not taken. 

It is thus indispensable for the participating nations to set aside their differences and work together to find a meaningful solution.

Rachana Gupta is a China Focus columnist, an expert author of Ezine Articles and an active blogger and poetry writer.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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