China's climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, made the comments at a forum in Beijing on Thursday. China is the world's largest consumer of fossil fuels including coal and oil.

Countries are under pressure to make more ambitious pledges to tackle global warming, after a UN inventory said a further 20 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to be reduced this decade alone to keep temperatures from exceeding the critical 1.5C threshold.

The UN inventory will be at the heart of discussions at the COP28 climate meeting, with campaigners hoping it will create the political will to set clear targets to end the use of coal and oil.

However, Mr. Jie Zhenhua said the intermittent nature of renewable energy and the immaturity of key technologies such as energy storage meant the world had to continue to rely on fossil fuels to ensure economic growth.

“It is unrealistic to completely phase out fossil fuel energy,” said Jie Zhenhua, who will represent China at COP28 this year.

At the 2021 climate talks in Glasgow, China led an effort to change the language of the final agreement from “phase out” to “phase out” fossil fuels. It also advocated a greater role for mitigation technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

Although ending the use of fossil fuels will not be discussed at COP28, Mr. Jie Zhenhua said China is willing to set a global renewable energy target as long as it takes into account the different economic conditions of different countries.

He also said he welcomed pledges by his US counterpart John Kerry that a $100 billion annual fund to help developing countries adapt to climate change should be disbursed soon, but added that it was "just a drop in the bucket".

China and the United States, the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters, resumed high-level climate talks in July after a hiatus due to disagreements on many issues.

Mai Anh (according to Reuters)