China charts path to a green future
China is ready to make a greater contribution to the global response to climate change. As such, the country is taking concrete steps to foster green, low-carbon, high-quality development as it embarks on a path toward carbon peak and neutrality, experts said.
According to the Government Work Report, delivered at the opening of this year's session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing on Saturday, the government has pledged to take well-ordered steps to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality. They include making coal use cleaner and more efficient, while reducing the use of the fuel and replacing it with alternative energy sources in an orderly fashion.
The report said the country will work to upgrade coal-fired power plants to conserve resources, advance the planning and construction of large-scale wind and photovoltaic power bases, and promote the research, development and application of green and low-carbon technology. It will also encourage the steel, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals and building materials industries to improve energy conservation and reduce carbon emissions.
Moreover, greater efforts will be made to stop the blind development of energy-intensive projects that feature high emissions and outdated production capacity.
He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China is fully confident of achieving the goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality before 2060.
"That will create new development and business opportunities, such as spurring the development of emerging sectors and the upgrading and renovation of old equipment," he said, speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing two sessions.
He noted that pushing ahead with carbon peaking and neutrality work will effectively improve the living environment in both rural and urban regions, promote green development and contribute to the global response to climate change.
Kang Yanbing, deputy director of the National Energy Conservation Center, said the government's ongoing efforts to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality will boost the green economic recovery, despite possible downward pressure and uncertainties both at home and abroad.
"It is a strategic choice to promote the transformation and upgrading of the energy structure, which is key to building China into a modern socialist country and gaining a green, low-carbon competitive edge globally," Kang said.
Looking to the period of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), he said that to take the lead in peaking carbon emissions, the country must push hard to adjust its industrial structure, boost energy efficiency, improve the energy structure, strictly control the new production capacity of high-energy-consuming projects, vigorously develop green and low-carbon technologies and industriesï¼such as renewable energy, new energy vehicles and clean heatingï¼and support key regions and industries.
In recent years, China has made great progress in the reduction of carbon emissions. From 2015 to 2019, the nation's carbon intensityï¼the amount of carbon dioxide emissions produced per unit of GDPï¼fell by 18.2 percent, fulfilling the binding targets set in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) ahead of schedule, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Citing such factors as China taking the top global spot in terms of the number of patents, investments and total power generated by renewable energies, Kang said clean energy and green and low-carbon technologies offer a zero-carbon and low-carbon technology path to achieve the nation's goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality before 2060, as pledged by the top leadership, and they also provide support for the development of green industries. Read More...
