China leads nations with new climate plans, defying U.S. climate denial

China led several countries in announcing new climate plans on Wednesday and offered a veiled rebuke of the U.S. president's anti-climate rhetoric a day earlier at the U.N. General Assembly.

Addressing a climate leaders’ summit hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a live video message from Beijing that by 2035 his country would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 7%-10% from its peak. He also criticised some countries for acting against the global clean energy transition.

Xi added that over the next ten years, China plans to increase its installed wind and solar power capacity to six times 2020 levels and raise the share of non-fossil fuels in domestic energy consumption to more than 30% by 2035.

He called on developed nations to take the lead in stronger emissions reductions, implicitly referring to the United States.

The summit followed a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump to the UN General Assembly the previous day, in which he described climate change as a “con job.”

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, host of the upcoming COP30 summit in November, warned leaders that updates to national climate plans would demonstrate whether countries trust the science. Brazil has pledged to cut emissions by 59%-67% by 2035 and to intensify efforts to combat deforestation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the Paris Agreement has reduced projected global temperature rise from four degrees Celsius to 2.6 degrees, if current national climate plans are fully implemented. He emphasised the need for more ambitious and faster plans for 2035.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the European Union remains on track to meet its 2030 target of cutting emissions by 55%, with its 2035 reduction target set between 66% and 72%.

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