As world leaders arrive in Madrid for a second week of climate talks, missing among the familiar faces will be Xie Zhenhua, China\u2019s climate negotiator for over a decade. In his place, Zhao Yingmin, vice minister of ecology and environment, will head the Chinese delegation.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s unlikely to be an official announcement but multiple sources have told China Dialogue<\/em> that Xie has left his position as the country\u2019s special representative on climate change. Xie has steered China\u2019s climate diplomacy since 2007, and has been critical to forging agreement on international climate action to avoid dangerous global warming.<\/p>\n China has become the world\u2019s largest annual emitter of greenhouse gases over the past decade. Yet in that time the country has also shifted from stubbornly defending its right to uncontrolled emission growth to actively embarking on a low-carbon path. That transformation has become a national strategy and Xie Zhenhua\u2019s personal role as a facilitator has been indispensable according to former colleagues, fellow negotiators and civil society representatives.<\/p>\n Xie Zhenhua became vice chair of China\u2019s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2007. The NDRC was also in charge of climate policy until these powers were moved to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) in 2018 as part of wide-ranging ministerial changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Xie is known as a candid, tough negotiator in international climate talks. At the Durban climate summit in 2011, he repeatedly banged a table over what he believed were hypocritical demands by rich countries to get China to accept binding emission reduction targets. The moment was widely broadcast on Chinese television.<\/p>\n\u2018The right to development\u2019<\/h2>\n