Focus on Arts and Ecology

As COP24 wrapped up in the early hours of last Sunday, Chinese media began to report on the successes and failures of this year’s important climate meeting. Much like their Western media counterparts, Chinese outlets were somewhat divided in their judgements. State broadcaster Xinhua reported that the meeting had been a “positive success”, while People’s Daily added that the “strength of China’s climate change leadership” had been on display. QDaily soberlylabelled the Katowice meeting a “limited success” and highlighted the concerns of some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. An expansive overview of the negotiations in Southern Weekend noted that the Katowice meeting failed to reach any agreement on market mechanisms, and pointed to the debacle over how to acknowledge the findings of the IPCC’s report on 1.5 degrees, and the fact that countries will still need to increase their emissions reduction pledges. Chinese media were also keen to highlight the country’s role in the talks as a “bridge” between developing and developed countries, a role that made possible a single rulebook with flexibility rather than two separate ones.