China is the world’s top emitter of carbon, which in 2019 released nearly double the emissions of the US with almost zero coal power plants. The significant new announcement in a virtual address to the 75th UN General Assembly recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China would deliver a stronger emissions reduction target, peak emissions before 2030 and strive to reach carbon neutrality before 2060. This is the first time President Xi has spoken of cutting emissions to net-zero. It raises the bar for other large emerging economies such as India, where the discussion of achieving carbon neutrality is in its infancy.
“The Paris Agreement on climate change charts the course for the world to transition to green and low-carbon development. It outlines the minimum steps to be taken to protect the Earth, our shared homeland, and all countries must take decisive steps to honour this agreement,” President Xi said in a recorded video message. He called on all countries to “seize the historic opportunity” of scientific and technological innovation and recover green from the coronavirus pandemic.
Going carbon neutral means that China would remove the same amount of carbon it’s emitting into the atmosphere to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. So, by 2060, China would theoretically only use clean energy sources and capture or offset any remaining emissions. But Chinese officials have yet to define exactly what that would look like. The target puts China more closely in alignment with the European Union, the UK, and other countries that have committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said is required to prevent over 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. In the US, some states and cities have moved in this direction, too. For instance, former governor Jerry Brown signed an executive order in 2018 for California to be carbon neutral by 2045.
President Xi Jinping’s new vision shows that China’s climate targets are highly embedded in its modernisation goals. In 2020, China will embark on a new journey of modernisation as new plans and blueprints unfold. It is a necessity for the country to increase investment in climate security as well as other forms of “natural capital”, and to create a new economic growth engine through the ongoing low carbon transition, as the country strives to accelerate sustainable development and benefit people from China and the world on this journey. Such action will also be China’s outstanding contribution to the Paris Agreement goals and global governance as a responsible global power.
