Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced further commitments to cut carbon emissions in a speech at the Climate Ambition Summit last Saturday.

The commitments include a decline of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65 percent from the 2005 level, an increase of the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy as well the forest stock volume and the goal to bring the installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1.2 billion kilowatts.

AMBITIOUS LONG-TERM TARGETS

In September, China for the first time announced a concrete long-term target of peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality in 2060 at the UN General Assembly, which is regarded as a major fillip for the global fight against warming climate.

Emissions peak would signal a significant turning point. Once the peak occurs, annual carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced year by year in the future.

Carbon neutrality refers to a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions. The Paris Agreement requires a global joint effort to go carbon neutral sometime in the second half of the 21st century, so as to prevent over 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.

Besides changes in economic structure, transition to more renewable energy consumption for electricity generation and other uses can also help mitigate environmental degradation. Non-fossil sources include nuclear, hydroelectric, and other renewable energy including geothermal, solar, tidal, wind, wood and so on. The share of non-fossil energy consumption in China for 2019 rose to 15.3 percent while coal still took up the biggest share with 58 percent.

Forest stock not only provides information on existing wood resources but also a basis for estimating the amount of carbon contained, since green plants can offer nature-based solutions in the climate plan of removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.

As the strong commitments put China closely in line with the efforts made by the EU, UK and other developed countries and regions, it should never be ignored that, China is still in the process of developing its economy with heavy reliance on coal as a dominant energy source. Taking such bold moves toward a net-zero carbon life in the near future is still a gargantuan task for China.