International Law Significance of the Proposal of a Global Community of Shared Future in Climate Governance

Global issues require global governance; global governance depends on the international rule of law; and global climate governance is no exception. Global climate governance is just an idea on paper, if the countries don’t fulfill their obligations to reduce emissions and undertake the responsibility for climate change under the norms of international law. But current international law is still dominated by developed countries that put their own interests first, and the will of developing countries, especially small island developing countries, cannot be fully reflected. Therefore, it is difficult to reach a basic consensus on climate justice in global climate governance, and to overcome the democratic “deficit”, so it is hard to reach the agreed goal of mitigating climate change. In the face of these dilemmas, China has demonstrated its responsibility as a major country and put forward the proposal of a global community of a shared future, which provides theoretical guidance for global climate governance. In the proposal, the international law of equality and mutual benefit means to formulate a correct view of justice and interests for all countries to guarantee the equal rights of small and weak countries; the international law of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits means to introduce empathy to governance to achieve high-quality democracy; and the connotation of legal ethics is to provide constraints for countries to fulfill their climate responsibilities to make up for the weak enforcement of international law.