China, the world's largest developing country, has reaffirmed that its CO2 
emissions will peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality will be achieved before 
2060.

https://youtu.be/ih5SJ9GaY2w

The promise was reiterated by President Xi Jinping at Thursday's Leaders Summit 
on Climate, an important juncture in the global climate political process 
before the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in the UK's Glasgow 
in November.

"China has made cooperation in ecological civilization a priority of joint 
building Belt and Road and promoted a series of green initiatives," the 
president noted, adding that China will hold the 15th meeting of the Conference 
of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October.

Controlling and curbing coal consumption

Xi told the other world leaders attending the summit that concrete action was 
already being taken. "China has integrated the goal into the ecological 
civilization construction and an action plan for hitting the peak of carbon 
emissions by 2030 is underway."

"During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period, we will strictly control 
the growth of coal consumption and gradually curb the consumption during the 
15th Five-Year Plan period," he added.

Coal-fired power remains a major energy source in China, and the country has 
vowed to bring the share of coal in total energy consumption to under 56 
percent in 2021.

The 14th Five-Year Plan, a key policy document that will heavily influence the 
nation's economic development in the next decade and beyond, outlined that 
energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) and carbon dioxide 
emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 13.5 percent and 18 percent over 
the period, respectively.

During China's annual Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of 2020, 
reducing carbon emissions was listed as one of China's eight key tasks to focus 
on in 2021.

Meanwhile, Xi noted that these are no easy tasks. "China's commitment is much 
shorter than that of developed countries."

The low-carbon commitment, it is estimated, requires China to make the 
transition from reaching its carbon peak to realizing carbon neutrality within 
30 years, compared with the 60 years taken by most developed countries.

He stressed that countries should honor promises on addressing climate change.

The Copenhagen Summit in 2009 set China's 2020 target of non-fossil energy 
consumption at 15 percent and entailed a 40 to 45 percent reduction of carbon 
intensity compared to 2005. China's statistics for 2019 are 15.3 percent and 
48.1 percent, respectively, meaning the country exceeded and fulfilled the 
targets ahead of schedule.

Compared with 2005, greenhouse emissions per unit of GDP had dropped 48 percent 
by 2019 in China, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, 
achieving ahead of schedule China's commitment to the 2020 targets.

Global cooperation vital

Xi also stressed the importance of global cooperation, calling for the 
international community to work together, instead of resorting to mutual 
accusation; to keep promises, instead of going back on them.

The president warned against fragmented and palliative approaches in conserving 
ecological environment.

Welcoming the returning of the United States to the multilateral governance on 
climate change, Xi said that China is looking forward to working with the 
international society, including the U.S., to advance global environmental 
governance.

Developed countries should make concrete efforts to help developing countries 
improve their abilities to cope with climate change, he added, stressing the 
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in the process.

Xi has repeatedly stressed the importance of upholding multilateralism, unity 
and cooperation to tackle climate change.

China and European countries have been working closely on the global fight 
against climate change after former U.S. President Donald Trump's 
administration abandoned the Paris Agreement.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-04-22/President-Xi-attends-Leaders-Summit-on-Climate-via-video-link-ZFKPiQ9yCc/index.html


SOURCE: CGTN