Other pre-2020 goals China is pursuing include increasing the share of energy derived from renewables and nuclear to 15 percent and raise forest cover by 40 million hectares by 2020.
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Now we’re witnessing the world’s largest emitter playing by the UN’s rules and promising even deeper cuts that those suggested some months back.
The plan builds on the one announced in November, when American officials said they would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. The country has also committed itself to getting 20 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. Leading climate change scientist Lord Nicholas Stern and London School of Economics colleague Fergus Green says this could mean China’s emissions peaking in 2025.
France is looking to rebalance a 26-billion-euro trade deficit with China by encouraging more French products to be exported. That sets up a dispute next year over Beijing’s bid to win a different status at the World Trade Organisation that would make it harder for Europe to protect local industry.
Wang Tao, a resident scholar on energy and climate at the Carnegie- Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, said of Li’s declaration: “It’s not a significant leap forward from what China announced past year during Obama’s visit”.
CSE’s analysis, however, also points to the fact the INDCs of China are less ambitious compared to what China had pledged to do till 2020 under the Cancun agreement.
The UN talks scheduled for December in Paris have been tasked with producing the first-ever pact requiring both developed and developing nations to take action to combat climate change.
Presenting its intended nationally determined contributions (INDC), an action plan, to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, China promised to go a step beyond its earlier commitment.
“The European Union is a strong and reliable partner for China”, he added. China’s coal consumption has dropped off dramatically. “China’s plan reflects its firm commitment to address the climate crisis”, said Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Institute think tank.
But it also showed that China accepts that as a major emerging economy it has a special role among developing countries by pledging to establish a “south-south” fund to help the poorest and most vulnerable countries deal with climate change.
In spite of the fact that coal remained China’s main power, which accounts for about 66 percent of China’s primary energy consumption and 35 percent higher than the world average, the country has been assertively investing in low-carbon energy development.
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“China wants to see Greece stay in the eurozone and we urge relevant creditors to reach agreement with the Greek government at an a early time”, Li told a news conference. “But we hope that China will continue to find ways to reduce its emissions, which will in turn drive global markets for renewable energy and energy efficiency”.
