EU chief challenges US on climate and asserts Brussels’ role in ‘new international order’

In her State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, von der Leyen called on the She also took aim at Chinese officials, urging them to peak their country’s emissions by the middle of this decade. Beijing has said that it plans to peak its emissions sometime “before 2030.” China has also pledged carbon neutrality by 2060.”Every country has a responsibility. The goals that President Xi [Jinping] has set out for China are encouraging, but we call for that same leadership on setting out how China will get there,” she said. “The world would be relieved if they showed they could peak emissions by mid-decade, and move away from coal at home and abroad.”Western climate leaders, including US special climate envoy John Kerry, have been putting pressure on Beijing to reach peak emissions sooner than the end of the decade. The country is the world’s biggest consumer of coal, and in 2020, it generated more than half the world’s total coal-fired power, according to a study by climate energy and research group Ember. Competing with ChinaIn her speech, von der Leyen listed the EU’s achievements over the year, including vaccinating 70% of its adult population against Covid-19 while donating more shots than other countries, some 700 million, to the Global South.She announced a donation of 200 million more vaccine doses by the middle of 2022, in addition to 250 million already pledged.And on the situation in Afghanistan, she announced an additional €100 million to the humanitarian effort there, warning of a risk of famine if assistance did not reach people inside the country.The EU will also start moving to improve its competitiveness with China on infrastructure through a “Global Gateway” to rival China’s enormous Belt and Road Initiative — which spans more than 140 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas — with a number projects, from roads to airports and railways, as well as energy facilities. China’s projects have enabled Beijing to wield more geopolitical influence in many parts of the world. The G7 nations in June also backed a proposal from US President Joe Biden to design an initiative to rival Belt and Road. “We will build Global Gateway partnerships with countries around the world. We want investments in quality infrastructure, connecting goods, people and services around the world,” von der Leyen said. “We want to create links and not dependencies.” And to compete better with both China and the US in digital technology, von der Leyen announced a draft law to make the bloc self-sufficient in chips, such as semi-conductors, to reduce reliance on suppliers abroad.”The aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production. That ensures our security of supply and will develop new markets for ground-breaking European tech.”On defense, von der Leyen said the EU was too militarily reliant on the US and that the bloc needed to strengthen its own forces, announcing a defense summit co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. The EU has previously debated creating its own defense force. “The more fundamental issue is, why has this not worked in the past? You can have the most advanced forces in the world but if you are never prepared to use them, what use are they?,” she said. “What has held us back until now is not just shortfalls of capacity, it is a lack of political will.”