Status: October 12, 2021 3:14 p.m.
China wants to invest 200 million euros in the protection of endangered species. This was announced by the head of state Xi at the UN conference on species protection. Federal Environment Minister Schulze demanded “ambitious goals” from the participants.
China wants to invest 1.5 billion yuan – the equivalent of around 200 million euros – in species protection in poorer countries. At the UN Conference on Conservation of Species (COP15) in Kunming, China, the head of state and party leader Xi Jinping announced the creation of a fund to support developing countries in protecting their biodiversity.
At the conference of the almost 200 signatory states to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is taking place online and on site, around 5,000 participants will discuss a new framework agreement to combat the extinction of species until Friday.
Species extinction should be stopped by 2030
Similar to the World Climate Conference in Paris, the conference is to develop a binding framework agreement for the protection of biodiversity. Species extinction is to be stopped by 2030. Until then, 175 billion euros are to be spent around the world annually.
Xi promised that China would continue to expand its nature reserves. He also assured the expansion of renewable energies: His country wanted to accelerate large-scale solar projects and wind turbines. China is the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases and consumes the most coal of any country. Even if it is strongly expanding renewable energies, China continues to cover around 60 percent of its growing demand with this fossil raw material.
Germany should increase participation
The Chinese president invited other states to help finance species protection. The federal government was also asked to increase its aid to at least two billion euros per year. Germany is currently contributing 800 million euros.
In her speech at the conference, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze spoke out in favor of an “ambitious” new framework agreement. The goals in the envisaged agreement must be “ambitious and concrete,” she said. And it must be ensured that the goals are translated into national plans and monitored.