The annual UN climate change conference is underway in Katowice, Poland.

This year's meeting is tasked with finalizing the implementation guidelines for the Paris climate change agreement.

Lu Xinming is deputy Director-general for Climate Change with China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

He says the guidelines for getting the Paris agreement up-and-running are important, though not easy to finalize.

We should consider the following three points. First, parties should adhere to the principle of equity, which means that developed and developing countries should find common, but differentiated responsibilities and acknowledge respective capabilities in light of different national circumstances. Then we have to decide in which way the agreement should be carried out, in a voluntary way or an obligatory way? The other point is how much money should developed countries provide and how will these countries fulfill their promises that have been made.

The Paris agreement was signed by almost every country in the world at the 2015 Paris conference.

It took effect in November of 2016, with a target of holding the average global temperature increase to no higher than 2 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

At the 2009 Copenhagen conference, developed countries pledged to provide 30-billion dollars a year for 3-years until 2012 for poorer countries to adapt to the new climate change standards.

That pledge is set to grow to 100-billion dollars a year by 2020.

Lu Xinming says the Chinese side had three main priorities heading into the meetings in Poland.

Mapping out the detailed implementation guidelines for the Paris agreement as scheduled should be the first key task. The interests of developing countries should be protected. The spirit and principles of the Paris Climate Agreement should be maintained.

Deputy chief of the Chinese delegation, Gou Haibo, says one of the main challenges will be the consistent monitoring of the countries involved in the Paris accord.

The rising of unilateralism is also a challenge in dealing with climate change. If a deal can't be reached, the multilateral governance surrounding climate change will be challenged. Despite the disputes and uncertainties, we hope that all parties are willing to complete the negotiations as planned. China is willing to participate in global environmental governance, and will firmly support and implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement.

This year's meetings in Poland will last until December 14.

China's delegation is due to hold 25 sideline meetings, which are meant to showcase what's being done in China to mitigate climate change.

(CHINA PLUS)