After years of hard work, China has entered a new era of leading the global climate change response, showing an increasingly prominent style of a major power and international leadership in international climate change affairs, injecting new and greater impetus into promoting global climate action.
wenLu Xuedu Former Deputy Director of the National Climate Center and former Chief Expert on Climate Change of the Asian Development Bank
This article is a special planning article for "Sustainable Development·China's Ten Years" of "Sustainable Development, China"
Climate change issue is a major global issue involving the world's sustainable development that the international community is increasingly concerned about. Since the late 1980s, it has become a major issue discussed in United Nations .
China has participated in the discussion and negotiations on climate change in the United Nations system from the very beginning. According to China's position and actions to participate in global climate change work, China's climate change response can be divided into five stages, namely: early (before 1990), the stage of understanding and response to climate change issues; early (1990-1998), the main purpose is to defend national development rights and interests and promote developed countries to take the lead in emission reduction; medium (1998-2008), deeply participate in global climate change response and carry out international cooperation for a large number of climate change projects; in the near future (2009-2013), fully and actively participate in the climate change response stage; and in the new era (after 2014), leading the global climate change response.
This article briefly summarizes China's participation in UN climate change negotiations and domestic policy measures and actions, summarizes the major actions and achievements in the past decade, and makes a prospect for China's future climate protection actions.
1. Early (1990 years ago): Understanding and response to climate change issues
1824, Joseph Fourier of France first discovered the impact of greenhouse gas . In 1858, John Tyndall of the UK first verified the impact of greenhouse gas through experiments; in 1896, Svante Arrhenius of Sweden, first quantitatively reported the impact of greenhouse gases. It took about two generations since then to realize the importance and seriousness of climate problems.
The "Stockholm Conference on Human Environment" adopted by the United Nations Science Conference (also known as the "First Earth Summit") in Stockholm, Sweden in June 1972 raised climate change for the first time, warning governments to pay attention to activities that may lead to climate change. In November 1988, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization jointly established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), providing global scientific understanding, assessment and action recommendations on climate change.
Resolution 44/207 adopted by the 44th General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989 "Protecting the Global Climate for the Present and Future generations" has begun to negotiate and prepare for the formulation of a framework convention on climate change, and this year has become a watershed for the global response to climate change. During this period, my country actively participated in all activities involving climate change held by the United Nations, and Chinese scientists also actively participated in international scientific organizations and scientific forum activities. Because domestic scientific research in this area is very weak or even blank, Chinese scholars mainly focus on tracking, understanding, learning, improving and cultivating teams.
2. Early stage (1990-1998): Defend national development rights and interests and promote developed countries to take the lead in reducing emissions
The Ministerial Declaration of the Second World Climate Conference held in October 1990 called for immediate negotiations on the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Resolution 45/212 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1990 decided to establish the "Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee" for climate change, with the participation of all United Nations member states, and began negotiations on the formulation of the United Nations climate change treaty in February 1991. China's delegation consisted of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Planning Commission, the State Science and Technology Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Electricity (Ministry of Energy), the State Environmental Protection Administration, the National Meteorological Administration and other departments attended the meeting.After five rounds of negotiations, the " United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change " (hereinafter referred to as the Convention on Climate Change) was reached in New York on May 9, 1992.
In accordance with the resolution I of the First Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (also known as the "Berlin Authorization"), the Berlin Authorization Advised Working Group was established in accordance with the First Conference of the Parties (also known as the "Berlin Authorization"). After six rounds of negotiations in 1996 and 1997, the " Kyoto Protocol " was reached at the Third Meeting of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, which stipulates that developed countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% on the basis of 1990 during the first commitment period (2008 to 2012), which is a milestone.
At the same time, the IPCC released the first climate change assessment report in 1990, conducting a scientific assessment of the causes of climate change; a supplementary report on climate change assessment in 1992; and a second climate change assessment report in 1995, determining the socio-economic impact of climate change as a new theme.
China's main goal at this stage is to promote the global climate protection process and ensure that its own and developing countries' overall development rights and interests are not damaged. To this end, China's Framework Convention on Promoting Climate Change established the basic guiding principle that famous developed and developing countries have "common but differentiated responsibilities" for climate change, which later became the cornerstone for China and other developing countries to safeguard their own right to development. During this period, the specific actions of domestic response to climate change are mainly to carry out research on science and technology, formulate relevant policies and plans, and carry out capacity building of institutions and personnel. countries have begun to incorporate climate change into scientific and technological research plans, supporting research on the causes and simulations of climate change, the impact and adaptation of climate change, the preparation of greenhouse gas emission list, technical and economic plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, future greenhouse gas emission scenario simulation, and atmospheric greenhouse gas background monitoring. Through the implementation of the scientific and technological plan, a team of experts who combine the old, middle-aged and young have been cultivated.
, especially in 1994, the State Council approved the establishment of the National Climate Center , and it was officially listed and put into operation in January 1995, becoming the earliest specialized institution in China to engage in climate and climate change research. In addition, in 1995, the State Council approved sustainable development, including climate change response as a national development strategy, and was the earliest document to incorporate climate change response into the policy framework of the central government.
III. Medium-term (1998-2008): Deeply participate in the response to global climate change and carry out international cooperation on a large number of climate change projects
After the formulation of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the focus of the United Nations climate change work shifted to promoting the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. In 1998, negotiations on the implementation rules of the Kyoto Protocol were initiated, including 4 parts. The first is to comply with the rules. The second is the negotiations on the use of overseas mechanisms to complete greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations, namely the negotiations on the "joint implementation" stipulated in Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol, the " Clean Development Mechanism " stipulated in Article 12 and the "emission trade" rules stipulated in Article 17, commonly known as the "three-mechanism negotiation". The third is negotiations on funding mechanisms, technology transfer and capacity building.
The fourth is about technical issues such as greenhouse gas emission accounting methods and the verification of greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries in the base year. The most important of them are land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). In addition, it also includes important issues such as international aviation and international navigation emission reduction. The Seventh Conference of the Parties held in Marrakech, Morocco, at the end of 2001 reached the Marrakech Agreement and completed negotiations on the implementation rules of the Kyoto Protocol.
With the active efforts of most countries around the world, the Kyoto Protocol came into effect on February 17, 2005.At the 11th Meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the First Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held in Montreal, Canada in December 2005, negotiations were reached to launch an obligation to reduce emissions in the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. The meeting also decided to launch a long-term cooperative dialogue process under the Convention to enhance the implementation of existing obligations of the Convention. Its essence is to discuss the participation of the United States and developing countries in the reduction of greenhouse gases.
At the 13th meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held in Bali, Indonesia in 2007, the "Bali Action Plan" was reached, with the core contents including: emission reduction of greenhouse gases, adaptation to climate change, funds, technology transfer and capacity building. The meeting decided to use two years to complete negotiations on the issues identified in the Bali Action Plan and reached an agreement on these issues at a meeting held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009. During this period, the IPCC adopted the third assessment report on climate change in 2001, including the natural scientific basis of climate change, the impacts of climate change, adaptation and vulnerability, climate change mitigation and a comprehensive report. The conclusions listed in the comprehensive report later became a scientific basis for frequent citation by governments. In 2007, the IPCC adopted the Fourth Climate Change Assessment Report, updating and continuing the content of the third assessment report.
It is particularly worth mentioning that during the review of the IPCC third assessment report, developed countries have been pushing the IPCC report to give a clear conclusion that global temperature rise by 2ºC by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is a dangerous temperature. Based on a large number of scientific research facts, the Chinese delegation believed that this conclusion lacked scientific basis. When the fourth assessment report was approved in 2007, there was still insufficient scientific basis to support the conclusion that the 2ºC threshold was concluded.
Shortly after the fourth IPCC assessment report was passed, EU took advantage of its opportunity to host G8 and "G8+5" meetings to put this conclusion into the leader's declaration, and since then, there has been a saying that "control global temperature rise within 2ºC" as a climate protection goal. During this period, a series of policies and measures were introduced in China, and the funds and technical assistance provided by international organizations and related developed countries were used to carry out international cooperation in climate change in all aspects, including formulating and issuing a series of guiding principles and regulations for the implementation of CDM projects, establishing China's CDM fund and operating regulations. In terms of international cooperation, it mainly includes engineering demonstration projects, capacity building projects and CDM projects for greenhouse gas emission reduction.
4. Recent (2009-2013): From passive participation to active and full participation in
2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is a major turning point in the Chinese government's response to climate change. The Copenhagen Conference was the most valued meeting in the history of climate change negotiations at that time. More than 100 national leaders including the US President and the Chinese State Council Prime Minister 6, attended the high-level meeting and participated in the negotiations, but the Copenhagen Conference ended in failure.
Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Site Photography丨Lu Xuedu
The reason is that after the then President of the United States reached an agreement with major national leaders on the Copenhagen Agreement, he couldn't wait to hold a press conference and announced the agreement before the conference was formally approved. Because Obama was eager to show off and wanted to win the first prize, he cooked a pot of "rare rice". The Chinese government has also made great efforts to promote the success of the Copenhagen Conference. Then Prime Minister Wen Jiabao attended the meeting and for the first time put forward to the international community China's quantitative commitment to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions: by 2020, the emission intensity of carbon dioxide unit unit GDP will be reduced by 40-45%, and the proportion of non-fossil energy will reach 15%.
The Sixteenth Meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Cancun, Mexico, in 2010, passed the Cancun Agreement, which includes a series of important decisions, especially the establishment of the United Nations Green Climate Fund as the funding mechanism for the Convention, which promoted the global large-scale climate investment and financing process.
In 2012, with the efforts of China and other developing countries, the Kyoto Protocol Doha amendment was reached, requiring developed country parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 18% from 2013 to 2020. Unfortunately, the amendment will not come into effect until the end of 2020, and it is only symbolic. During this period, the IPCC released two special reports: the "Special Report on Renewable Energy and Climate Change Mitigation" and the "Special Report on Managing Extreme Events and Disaster Risks and Promoting Climate Change Adaptation". It provides scientific reference for countries around the world to develop renewable energy and control extreme weather and climate events. During this period, China played an increasingly important role in participating in the UN climate change negotiations between . China advocates solving climate change issues under the framework of sustainable development, insists on giving full play to the role of the United Nations as the main channel for climate change negotiations, and insists that climate change negotiations should be promoted in a way that is open and transparent, broad participation, leading by parties and consensus under the guidance of the principles of fairness, "common but different responsibilities" and "separate capabilities".
These propositions have received universal support from the international community and have become the dominant force in actively and constructively participating in negotiations and promoting positive progress in the international process of climate change. The role of the negotiation plan proposed by China in key links of negotiations is becoming increasingly prominent. China advocated the establishment of the "Basic Four" group of cooperation with Brazil , India and South Africa in 2009, becoming the backbone of developing countries. At the same time, it has established a bilateral consultation mechanism for climate change with the United States, the European Union, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, etc., to promote the resolution of major differences and difficulties that arise in the negotiations on climate change, and has a relatively equal voice with developed countries such as the United States and Europe. During this period, domestic climate change response has undergone fundamental changes in institutions and personnel settings, policy formulation and actions: responding to climate change is elevated to an important part of building ecological civilization and beautiful China, and included it in the national development plan. In terms of organizational structure, a climate change response management system and working mechanism has been established, with unified leadership of the National Leading Group for Climate Change Response, centralized management of the National Development and Reform Commission, division of responsibilities of relevant departments and localities, and extensive participation of the whole society. The National Development and Reform Commission also established the Climate Change Response Department in 2008 (later transferred to , the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in in 2018). The legislative body also launched a research work to promote legislation on climate change response: in August 2009, the 11th National People's Congress Standing Committee passed the "Resolution on Actively Responding to Climate Change".
In terms of preparing policy plans, the first time a plan to respond to climate change was prepared: in the national "12th Five-Year Plan" outline, "active response to global climate change" was included; then the "National Climate Change Response Plan (2013-2020)" was compiled to make overall arrangements for national climate change response before 2020. In November 2009, the State Council proposed that by 2020, my country's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will decrease by 40%-45% compared with 2005. In December 2011, the State Council issued the "HTM6 "12th Five-Year Plan" for Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emissions ", proposing that by 2015, the national carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will drop by 17% compared with 2010.
In the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it also clearly proposed to make a significant decline in energy consumption per unit of GDP and carbon dioxide emissions the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deepening reform and opening up in all respects.To this end, the State Council and relevant departments have issued and issued a series of major policies related to responding to climate change: the State Council has determined the total energy consumption of in 2015 to 4 billion tons of standard coal; the fields of science and technology, oceans, meteorology, forestry, industry, transportation, etc. have formulated work plans or special actions to respond to climate change in this field; adaptation to climate change has become an integral part of the work of agriculture, forestry, water resources, meteorology, health and other departments, etc.
In terms of promoting the pilot work of responding to climate change, in July 2010, the State Council approved the pilot project of low-carbon cities, and approved 5 provinces and 8 cities as low-carbon pilot provinces and cities, requiring all pilot provinces and regions and cities to study and formulate policies and measures to accelerate the promotion of low-carbon development, innovate systems and mechanisms, and strive to achieve practical results. In 2012, 29 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) were approved as the second batch of low-carbon provinces, regions and low-carbon cities pilot projects; in 2017, 45 cities (districts, counties) were approved as the third batch of low-carbon pilot projects, with a total of 87 low-carbon pilot projects in the three batches. Starting from November 2011, seven provinces and cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangdong and Hubei Province were approved to carry out the carbon emission trading pilot program. These pilot programs provided rich practical experience for the later establishment of a national carbon trading system.
A series of basic work and capacity-building activities to deal with climate change are also carried out during the same period. The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics formulated and issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Statistical Work on Responding to Climate Change", which clearly proposed to establish a statistical indicator system for responding to climate change; the State Forestry Administration completed the calculation of forest area and accumulation changes in each province based on the results of the previous forest resource inventory in each province; the National Development and Reform Commission organized the "Second National Information Bulletin" in 2012, organized the compilation and release of the annual "China's Policies and Actions for Responding to Climate Change" white paper, and organized the preparation of greenhouse gas emission accounting methods and reporting guidelines for manufacturers in chemical, cement, steel, nonferrous metals, electricity, aviation, ceramics and other industries.
The Ministry of Science and Technology organized the compilation of the third " National Assessment Report on Climate Change ", formulated the "National Directory for Transformation and Promotion and Application of Low-Carbon Technology Achievements", promoted the technical research on carbon dioxide geological storage, carried out preliminary research on relevant standards in the field of climate change, research on the impact of climate change on my country's water security and adaptation measures, empirical research on the impact of forest mitigation in my country's forests, and research on carbon sequestration potential and carbon sequestration process in typical ecosystems.
The foreign aid projects during this period focus on promoting the development of the carbon market, carbon capture utilization and storage technology (CCUS). Among them, the Asian Development Bank of Asia Development Bank has assisted Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai in establishing carbon trading markets, and assisted the National Development and Reform Commission in compiling relevant CCUS policies and technology roadmap; the World Bank of China and the European Union have provided a lot of assistance for the construction of China's national carbon market. The EU and the UK cooperate with my country's Ministry of Science and Technology to promote CCUS's technological research and development and engineering demonstration.
At the same time, China has also begun to provide assistance to other developing countries in technology and capacity building in climate change, carry out climate change policy and technical training for government officials and experts in developing countries, and provide equipment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. China has not provided any additional political conditions and is effective in foreign aid, which has been widely appreciated by developing countries.
5. New era (after 2014): China has entered a new era of leading the global response to climate change development
Since 2014, China has demonstrated an increasingly prominent style of a major power and international leadership in international climate change affairs, injecting new and greater impetus into promoting global climate action. In addition to the government delegations active in negotiations of all sizes, non-governmental organizations (NGO), academic institutions and think tanks in China are also very active. The Chinese delegation also opened the China Corner on the UN Climate Change Conference , becoming one of the most exciting and active national booths.
In 2014, China and the United States signed the " Sino-US Joint Statement on Climate Change in Beijing and in 2015, President Xi Jinping visited the United States to sign the "Joint Statement on Climate Change between China and the United States Heads of China and the United States", which became landmark events affecting the global response to climate change at that time. In less than a year, the leaders of China and the United States issued two joint statements on climate change, which had a huge boost to the successful convening of the Paris Climate Conference at the end of 2015. In a joint statement issued by the heads of state of China and the United States in 2014, each proposed the post-2020 climate action goals. In the 2015 statement, both sides emphasized the need to formulate action strategies by the mid-century to achieve the goal of global temperature heating no more than 2°C and promote the transformation of the global economy to a low-carbon transformation.
In addition to China and the United States twice issued joint statements on climate change, before the Paris Climate Change Conference at the end of 2015, China also reached and issued bilateral joint statements with the EU and major developed regions and countries such as Britain, France and Germany to build consensus and play an important role in guaranteeing the final conclusion of the " Paris Agreement ".
Paris Climate Change Conference "China Corner" is very active and attracts much attention. Photography丨Lu Xuedu
During the Paris Climate Change Conference, President Xi Jinping personally attended the conference to guide and promote negotiations. This is the first time that China's highest leader has attended the conference since China participated in the climate change negotiations. The Chinese delegation actively coordinated the positions of developed and developing countries, sought common ground while reserving differences, and was praised by all parties. The Paris Climate Change Conference finally passed the Paris Agreement, which was a complete success. The Paris Agreement Negotiation Conference has become a symbol of China's beginning to lead the response to global climate change.
Climate change negotiations after 2016 focus on formulating the implementation rules of the Paris Agreement. The Chinese government delegation has always been the main driving force in the negotiation process. In December 2018, the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change was held in Katowice, Poland, and the "package of Implementation Rules" was adopted. The specific results were prominently reflected in four aspects: national independent contributions, , transparency issues, climate financing and technology transfer. During this period, the fifth assessment report on climate change (AR5) compiled by IPCC global scientists was approved in 2014. Similar to the fourth assessment report, the fifth assessment report includes the natural science foundation, the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of climate change, climate change mitigation and comprehensive reports. In November 2018, the IPCC issued a special report, "Special Report on Global Warming by 1.5℃", pointing out that to achieve the goal of controlling the temperature within 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world needs to undergo an unprecedented large-scale low-carbon transformation and achieve near-zero emissions by around the middle of this century.
"Climate Change 2021: Basics of Natural Science" provides the latest assessment of scientific knowledge about earth warming and future warming forecasts. Source: IPCC official website
From August 2021 to April 2022, the IPCC successively released the reports of the three working group of the sixth assessment report (AR6): "Climate Change 2021: Basics of Natural Science", "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability", "Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change". The reports bring together recent advances in climate science to assess the impact of climate change on ecosystems at the global and regional levels, biodiversity and human communities, and the impact of national climate commitments on long-term emission targets. During this period, the Chinese government formulated and implemented a series of policies, measures and action plans to deal with climate change, and established a good image of consistency between words and deeds.
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China included climate change as an important part of the national ecological civilization construction, and proposed that my country should guide international cooperation in responding to climate change and become an important participant, contributor and leader in global ecological civilization construction. These requirements in the report of the 19th National Congress have become important guidelines for our government to formulate climate change strategies and policies. In 2018, in accordance with the deployment of the reform of government institutions in my country, the functions of responding to climate change and emission reduction were transferred to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, enhancing the coordination between responding to climate change and environmental pollution prevention and control and the integrity of ecological and environmental protection.
The "target for responding to climate change by 2020" set by the Chinese government is ahead of schedule to achieve by 2017: China's unit GDP carbon dioxide emissions in 2017 fell by about 46% compared with 2005, exceeding the target of 40%-45% of carbon intensity in 2020 three years ahead of schedule; the proportion of non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption reached 13.8%, and the afforestation and forest protection task continues to be promoted. On July 16, 2021, the national carbon market officially started. The cumulative trading volume of the quota at the first anniversary of operation was 194 million tons, the cumulative trading volume was 8.492 billion yuan, and the average quota price was 43.77 yuan/ton. In June 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and 17 other departments jointly issued the "National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035", which made overall arrangements for the current work of adapting to climate change from 2035.
The 25th UN Climate Change Conference was held in Madrid, Spain Photography丨Deng Wenjie
The most important landmark action during this period was that President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the general debate of the 75th UN General Assembly on September 22, 2020, announcing that China will increase its national voluntary contribution: "Carbon dioxide emissions strive to peak by 2030, and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by by 2060." President Xi’s statement has caused a huge response around the world. The United Nations, international organizations and governments of major countries highly appreciate China’s majestic goals to protect the global climate. Subsequently, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia , South Africa, Brazil and other countries also announced their respective carbon neutrality targets. As of the end of 2021, 136 countries around the world have put forward carbon neutrality commitments, covering 88% of the global carbon dioxide emissions, 90% of the GDP and 85% of the population.
It can be said that China's carbon peak carbon neutrality goal has played a leading and huge role in enhancing global efforts to respond to climate change. After President Xi Jinping announced the "dual carbon" goal, when formulating the "14th Five-Year Plan" goals, the domestic policy and actions were formulated with the "dual carbon" goals as a guide. In formulating plans and plans, local governments also regard the "dual carbon" goals as a guide for formulating local actions to respond to climate change. Among them, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of my country, the People's Bank of , and five other departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Climate Investment and Financing" in December 2020, and launched a pilot program of climate investment and financing in December 2021, and promoted the implementation and implementation of specific actions to respond to climate change through financial means.
The foreign aid projects for climate change during this period, in addition to continuing to promote the development of the carbon market and promoting the formulation of CCUS policies, capacity building and engineering demonstration, low-carbon technology promotion and low-carbon urban construction have become new highlights. The Asian Development Bank has established technical assistance projects to support the formulation of relevant policies, regulations and technical guidelines required for the construction of the national carbon market; supports the implementation of CCUS-related policy research, capacity building and feasibility study on engineering demonstration; cooperates with the Hunan Provincial Government to promote low-carbon technology investment and holds the Asia-Pacific low-carbon technology forum in Changsha every year; promotes the Xiangtan low-carbon urban development project as the ADB loan project, becoming the first urban planning and construction project with low-carbon development as the goal. The World Bank and the EU continue to provide assistance to China's national carbon market construction. The EU and the UK continue to support China in promoting CCUS technology research and development and engineering demonstration, and have built a CCUS engineering demonstration platform in Guangdong. During this period, China's foreign climate change assistance has also been accelerated and improved and achieved positive results. As of July 2022, China has allocated more than 1.2 billion yuan to carry out South-South cooperation in climate change, signed 43 climate change cooperation documents with 38 developing countries, and trained more than 2,000 officials and technical personnel for more than 120 developing countries. In addition, China also plans to establish a South-South Cooperation Fund for Climate Change to enhance cooperation with other developing countries in protecting the climate.
6. Important Climate Action Results in the past decade
From the above-mentioned efforts of China to protect the global climate, especially in the past 10 years, the following 8 actions and achievements demonstrate China's efforts and contributions to actively respond to climate change, and have played an important and critical role in promoting and leading the global climate protection.
The first is to set and promote the implementation of the carbon peak carbon neutrality target. The achievement of is of epoch-making significance at the global level, because China's action has led most countries around the world to set their own carbon neutrality goals and action plans, greatly promoting the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Today, the "dual carbon" goal has become a guide for various industries and localities in my country to promote high-quality and sustainable development.
The second is to comprehensively improve the party and government management mechanism to protect the climate. my country strives to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. It is a major strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee after careful consideration. It is an inherent requirement for my country to achieve sustainable development and high-quality development, and it is also an inevitable choice to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. To this end, various industry departments, local party committees and governments have included the work schedule and assessment content to promote the realization of the "dual carbon" goal, comprehensively improving the intensity and level of the Party and government's management of the "dual carbon" work, and ensuring the smooth progress of the "dual carbon" work.
The third is to establish a carbon market as an important means to deal with climate change. China launched the national carbon market in 2021, which has received high attention and evaluation from the world. After one year of operation, it has proved that China's carbon market can be an important market means to promote the implementation of the "dual carbon" goal. The smooth operation and development of China's carbon market will bring a demonstration role to other developing countries and enhance their confidence in establishing their own carbon markets. The development of China's carbon market will also play a decisive role in the establishment of the global carbon market.
The fourth is to issue guidance on climate investment and financing, establish professional climate investment and financing institutions, and promote the funds raised to respond to climate change. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment and five other departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Climate Investment and Financing" and carried out a pilot program of climate investment and financing, which is a world's first. The relevant policies, guidelines and methodologies of China's climate investment and financing will provide practical experience and important references to other countries around the world, especially developing countries.
The fifth is to formulate and implement the "National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035". The strategy of has made overall plans and deployments for the current work of adapting to climate change from 2035, clarifies the basic principles that should be adhered to in adapting to climate change, and puts forward the goals of adapting to climate change by 2035. This plays an important reference and demonstration role for developing countries in the world, especially.
The sixth is to promote the conclusion of the Paris Agreement and promote the entry into force and implementation of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement reached on December 12, 2015 is the most important achievement in the world in protecting the climate in the past 10 years. President Xi Jinping personally deployed and participated in coordination in the last critical stage, which led to the conclusion of the Paris Agreement. In 2016, President Xi Jinping and then-US President Obama signed the Paris Agreement and handed over to UN Secretary-General Guterres in person, which greatly promoted the entry into force and implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The seventh is to establish a multilateral and bilateral consultation mechanism such as the "Basic Four", China-US, China-EU, China and Japan, and promote the process of protecting the global climate. In the past 10 years, China has been promoting the global climate change response process, especially at key stages and nodes, using the multilateral and bilateral consultation mechanisms such as the "Basic Four", China-US, China-Europe, China-Japan, China-Canada, etc. to discuss and resolve major disputes in climate change negotiations and promote cooperation, and has become an indispensable and important party in promoting the United Nations to protect the climate.
The eighth is to promote South-South cooperation in responding to climate change with other developing countries. While promoting its own climate protection, China also assists other developing countries in improving their ability to respond to climate change through capacity building, providing facilities and equipment for emission reduction and adapting to climate change, and helping to establish low-carbon parks and communities. South-South cooperation in climate change has made China more prominent in becoming a leader and contributor to global climate change response. At the same time, the Chinese government also guides and requires Chinese overseas enterprises to fully consider the requirements of emission reduction and adaptation to climate change in their investment and cooperation, and help investment target countries improve their ability to respond to climate change.China's assistance and efforts in this regard have been highly appreciated by the vast number of developing countries.
77. Outlook on China's future climate protection action
China has formulated and promulgated "1+N" policies and measures to promote the realization of the "dual carbon" goal, and local governments have also formulated plans and plans that conform to local reality. It can be foreseeable that under the leadership and guidance of the central government, China will surely achieve a series of major achievements in responding to climate change. The following aspects are worth looking forward to:
First, China will be able to achieve the climate change response goals of the "14th Five-Year Plan" in accordance with the scheduled plan and achieve carbon peak by 2030. According to the "dual carbon" target plans and plans of departments and localities that have been promulgated, China is expected to achieve carbon peak by 2030.
Second, China will be able to contribute a series of innovative achievements to the global response to climate change, such as China's national management mechanism for responding to climate change, policies and measures adopted, experience in building and operating carbon markets, climate investment and financing policies and operation management, etc.
Third, China will be able to contribute a large number of green and low-carbon technologies and equipment to the world. China's promotion of the "dual carbon" goal will surely greatly promote the research and development and application of low-carbon zero-carbon technologies and equipment, form a low-carbon zero-carbon industry and equipment, and significantly reduce the cost of these technologies and equipment. This will make a huge contribution to enhancing global capacity to respond to climate change. China's practices and results in large-scale development of photovoltaics and wind power in the past are the best cases and proofs.
Fourth, China will be able to provide more assistance and more low-carbon zero-carbon investment and financing support for other developing countries to respond to climate change. As China itself continues to achieve new achievements in advancing the dual-carbon goal, China will be able to share these achievements more with other countries, especially developing countries, and bring more low-carbon zero-carbon investment and financing, technology and equipment.
In short, as China continues to achieve new achievements and success in achieving the "dual carbon" goal, China's leading role in protecting the global climate will be more prominent. China also needs to prepare for such a role and play such a role in all aspects.
Edit丨Wang Qiurong
Source丨"Sustainable Development Economic Guide" 2022 Issue 9-10
Original title: "China's Actions and Achievements in Protecting the Global Climate", the editor has slightly deleted the article.
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After five rounds of negotiations, the " United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change " (hereinafter referred to as the Convention on Climate Change) was reached in New York on May 9, 1992.In accordance with the resolution I of the First Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (also known as the "Berlin Authorization"), the Berlin Authorization Advised Working Group was established in accordance with the First Conference of the Parties (also known as the "Berlin Authorization"). After six rounds of negotiations in 1996 and 1997, the " Kyoto Protocol " was reached at the Third Meeting of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, which stipulates that developed countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% on the basis of 1990 during the first commitment period (2008 to 2012), which is a milestone.
At the same time, the IPCC released the first climate change assessment report in 1990, conducting a scientific assessment of the causes of climate change; a supplementary report on climate change assessment in 1992; and a second climate change assessment report in 1995, determining the socio-economic impact of climate change as a new theme.
China's main goal at this stage is to promote the global climate protection process and ensure that its own and developing countries' overall development rights and interests are not damaged. To this end, China's Framework Convention on Promoting Climate Change established the basic guiding principle that famous developed and developing countries have "common but differentiated responsibilities" for climate change, which later became the cornerstone for China and other developing countries to safeguard their own right to development. During this period, the specific actions of domestic response to climate change are mainly to carry out research on science and technology, formulate relevant policies and plans, and carry out capacity building of institutions and personnel. countries have begun to incorporate climate change into scientific and technological research plans, supporting research on the causes and simulations of climate change, the impact and adaptation of climate change, the preparation of greenhouse gas emission list, technical and economic plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, future greenhouse gas emission scenario simulation, and atmospheric greenhouse gas background monitoring. Through the implementation of the scientific and technological plan, a team of experts who combine the old, middle-aged and young have been cultivated.
, especially in 1994, the State Council approved the establishment of the National Climate Center , and it was officially listed and put into operation in January 1995, becoming the earliest specialized institution in China to engage in climate and climate change research. In addition, in 1995, the State Council approved sustainable development, including climate change response as a national development strategy, and was the earliest document to incorporate climate change response into the policy framework of the central government.
III. Medium-term (1998-2008): Deeply participate in the response to global climate change and carry out international cooperation on a large number of climate change projects
After the formulation of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the focus of the United Nations climate change work shifted to promoting the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. In 1998, negotiations on the implementation rules of the Kyoto Protocol were initiated, including 4 parts. The first is to comply with the rules. The second is the negotiations on the use of overseas mechanisms to complete greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations, namely the negotiations on the "joint implementation" stipulated in Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol, the " Clean Development Mechanism " stipulated in Article 12 and the "emission trade" rules stipulated in Article 17, commonly known as the "three-mechanism negotiation". The third is negotiations on funding mechanisms, technology transfer and capacity building.
The fourth is about technical issues such as greenhouse gas emission accounting methods and the verification of greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries in the base year. The most important of them are land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). In addition, it also includes important issues such as international aviation and international navigation emission reduction. The Seventh Conference of the Parties held in Marrakech, Morocco, at the end of 2001 reached the Marrakech Agreement and completed negotiations on the implementation rules of the Kyoto Protocol.
With the active efforts of most countries around the world, the Kyoto Protocol came into effect on February 17, 2005.At the 11th Meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the First Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held in Montreal, Canada in December 2005, negotiations were reached to launch an obligation to reduce emissions in the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. The meeting also decided to launch a long-term cooperative dialogue process under the Convention to enhance the implementation of existing obligations of the Convention. Its essence is to discuss the participation of the United States and developing countries in the reduction of greenhouse gases.
At the 13th meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held in Bali, Indonesia in 2007, the "Bali Action Plan" was reached, with the core contents including: emission reduction of greenhouse gases, adaptation to climate change, funds, technology transfer and capacity building. The meeting decided to use two years to complete negotiations on the issues identified in the Bali Action Plan and reached an agreement on these issues at a meeting held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009. During this period, the IPCC adopted the third assessment report on climate change in 2001, including the natural scientific basis of climate change, the impacts of climate change, adaptation and vulnerability, climate change mitigation and a comprehensive report. The conclusions listed in the comprehensive report later became a scientific basis for frequent citation by governments. In 2007, the IPCC adopted the Fourth Climate Change Assessment Report, updating and continuing the content of the third assessment report.
It is particularly worth mentioning that during the review of the IPCC third assessment report, developed countries have been pushing the IPCC report to give a clear conclusion that global temperature rise by 2ºC by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is a dangerous temperature. Based on a large number of scientific research facts, the Chinese delegation believed that this conclusion lacked scientific basis. When the fourth assessment report was approved in 2007, there was still insufficient scientific basis to support the conclusion that the 2ºC threshold was concluded.
Shortly after the fourth IPCC assessment report was passed, EU took advantage of its opportunity to host G8 and "G8+5" meetings to put this conclusion into the leader's declaration, and since then, there has been a saying that "control global temperature rise within 2ºC" as a climate protection goal. During this period, a series of policies and measures were introduced in China, and the funds and technical assistance provided by international organizations and related developed countries were used to carry out international cooperation in climate change in all aspects, including formulating and issuing a series of guiding principles and regulations for the implementation of CDM projects, establishing China's CDM fund and operating regulations. In terms of international cooperation, it mainly includes engineering demonstration projects, capacity building projects and CDM projects for greenhouse gas emission reduction.
4. Recent (2009-2013): From passive participation to active and full participation in
2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is a major turning point in the Chinese government's response to climate change. The Copenhagen Conference was the most valued meeting in the history of climate change negotiations at that time. More than 100 national leaders including the US President and the Chinese State Council Prime Minister 6, attended the high-level meeting and participated in the negotiations, but the Copenhagen Conference ended in failure.
Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Site Photography丨Lu Xuedu
The reason is that after the then President of the United States reached an agreement with major national leaders on the Copenhagen Agreement, he couldn't wait to hold a press conference and announced the agreement before the conference was formally approved. Because Obama was eager to show off and wanted to win the first prize, he cooked a pot of "rare rice". The Chinese government has also made great efforts to promote the success of the Copenhagen Conference. Then Prime Minister Wen Jiabao attended the meeting and for the first time put forward to the international community China's quantitative commitment to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions: by 2020, the emission intensity of carbon dioxide unit unit GDP will be reduced by 40-45%, and the proportion of non-fossil energy will reach 15%.
The Sixteenth Meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Cancun, Mexico, in 2010, passed the Cancun Agreement, which includes a series of important decisions, especially the establishment of the United Nations Green Climate Fund as the funding mechanism for the Convention, which promoted the global large-scale climate investment and financing process.
In 2012, with the efforts of China and other developing countries, the Kyoto Protocol Doha amendment was reached, requiring developed country parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 18% from 2013 to 2020. Unfortunately, the amendment will not come into effect until the end of 2020, and it is only symbolic. During this period, the IPCC released two special reports: the "Special Report on Renewable Energy and Climate Change Mitigation" and the "Special Report on Managing Extreme Events and Disaster Risks and Promoting Climate Change Adaptation". It provides scientific reference for countries around the world to develop renewable energy and control extreme weather and climate events. During this period, China played an increasingly important role in participating in the UN climate change negotiations between . China advocates solving climate change issues under the framework of sustainable development, insists on giving full play to the role of the United Nations as the main channel for climate change negotiations, and insists that climate change negotiations should be promoted in a way that is open and transparent, broad participation, leading by parties and consensus under the guidance of the principles of fairness, "common but different responsibilities" and "separate capabilities".
These propositions have received universal support from the international community and have become the dominant force in actively and constructively participating in negotiations and promoting positive progress in the international process of climate change. The role of the negotiation plan proposed by China in key links of negotiations is becoming increasingly prominent. China advocated the establishment of the "Basic Four" group of cooperation with Brazil , India and South Africa in 2009, becoming the backbone of developing countries. At the same time, it has established a bilateral consultation mechanism for climate change with the United States, the European Union, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, etc., to promote the resolution of major differences and difficulties that arise in the negotiations on climate change, and has a relatively equal voice with developed countries such as the United States and Europe. During this period, domestic climate change response has undergone fundamental changes in institutions and personnel settings, policy formulation and actions: responding to climate change is elevated to an important part of building ecological civilization and beautiful China, and included it in the national development plan. In terms of organizational structure, a climate change response management system and working mechanism has been established, with unified leadership of the National Leading Group for Climate Change Response, centralized management of the National Development and Reform Commission, division of responsibilities of relevant departments and localities, and extensive participation of the whole society. The National Development and Reform Commission also established the Climate Change Response Department in 2008 (later transferred to , the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in in 2018). The legislative body also launched a research work to promote legislation on climate change response: in August 2009, the 11th National People's Congress Standing Committee passed the "Resolution on Actively Responding to Climate Change".
In terms of preparing policy plans, the first time a plan to respond to climate change was prepared: in the national "12th Five-Year Plan" outline, "active response to global climate change" was included; then the "National Climate Change Response Plan (2013-2020)" was compiled to make overall arrangements for national climate change response before 2020. In November 2009, the State Council proposed that by 2020, my country's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will decrease by 40%-45% compared with 2005. In December 2011, the State Council issued the "HTM6 "12th Five-Year Plan" for Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emissions ", proposing that by 2015, the national carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will drop by 17% compared with 2010.
In the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it also clearly proposed to make a significant decline in energy consumption per unit of GDP and carbon dioxide emissions the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deepening reform and opening up in all respects.To this end, the State Council and relevant departments have issued and issued a series of major policies related to responding to climate change: the State Council has determined the total energy consumption of in 2015 to 4 billion tons of standard coal; the fields of science and technology, oceans, meteorology, forestry, industry, transportation, etc. have formulated work plans or special actions to respond to climate change in this field; adaptation to climate change has become an integral part of the work of agriculture, forestry, water resources, meteorology, health and other departments, etc.
In terms of promoting the pilot work of responding to climate change, in July 2010, the State Council approved the pilot project of low-carbon cities, and approved 5 provinces and 8 cities as low-carbon pilot provinces and cities, requiring all pilot provinces and regions and cities to study and formulate policies and measures to accelerate the promotion of low-carbon development, innovate systems and mechanisms, and strive to achieve practical results. In 2012, 29 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) were approved as the second batch of low-carbon provinces, regions and low-carbon cities pilot projects; in 2017, 45 cities (districts, counties) were approved as the third batch of low-carbon pilot projects, with a total of 87 low-carbon pilot projects in the three batches. Starting from November 2011, seven provinces and cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangdong and Hubei Province were approved to carry out the carbon emission trading pilot program. These pilot programs provided rich practical experience for the later establishment of a national carbon trading system.
A series of basic work and capacity-building activities to deal with climate change are also carried out during the same period. The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics formulated and issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Statistical Work on Responding to Climate Change", which clearly proposed to establish a statistical indicator system for responding to climate change; the State Forestry Administration completed the calculation of forest area and accumulation changes in each province based on the results of the previous forest resource inventory in each province; the National Development and Reform Commission organized the "Second National Information Bulletin" in 2012, organized the compilation and release of the annual "China's Policies and Actions for Responding to Climate Change" white paper, and organized the preparation of greenhouse gas emission accounting methods and reporting guidelines for manufacturers in chemical, cement, steel, nonferrous metals, electricity, aviation, ceramics and other industries.
The Ministry of Science and Technology organized the compilation of the third " National Assessment Report on Climate Change ", formulated the "National Directory for Transformation and Promotion and Application of Low-Carbon Technology Achievements", promoted the technical research on carbon dioxide geological storage, carried out preliminary research on relevant standards in the field of climate change, research on the impact of climate change on my country's water security and adaptation measures, empirical research on the impact of forest mitigation in my country's forests, and research on carbon sequestration potential and carbon sequestration process in typical ecosystems.
The foreign aid projects during this period focus on promoting the development of the carbon market, carbon capture utilization and storage technology (CCUS). Among them, the Asian Development Bank of Asia Development Bank has assisted Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai in establishing carbon trading markets, and assisted the National Development and Reform Commission in compiling relevant CCUS policies and technology roadmap; the World Bank of China and the European Union have provided a lot of assistance for the construction of China's national carbon market. The EU and the UK cooperate with my country's Ministry of Science and Technology to promote CCUS's technological research and development and engineering demonstration.
At the same time, China has also begun to provide assistance to other developing countries in technology and capacity building in climate change, carry out climate change policy and technical training for government officials and experts in developing countries, and provide equipment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. China has not provided any additional political conditions and is effective in foreign aid, which has been widely appreciated by developing countries.
5. New era (after 2014): China has entered a new era of leading the global response to climate change development
Since 2014, China has demonstrated an increasingly prominent style of a major power and international leadership in international climate change affairs, injecting new and greater impetus into promoting global climate action. In addition to the government delegations active in negotiations of all sizes, non-governmental organizations (NGO), academic institutions and think tanks in China are also very active. The Chinese delegation also opened the China Corner on the UN Climate Change Conference , becoming one of the most exciting and active national booths.
In 2014, China and the United States signed the " Sino-US Joint Statement on Climate Change in Beijing and in 2015, President Xi Jinping visited the United States to sign the "Joint Statement on Climate Change between China and the United States Heads of China and the United States", which became landmark events affecting the global response to climate change at that time. In less than a year, the leaders of China and the United States issued two joint statements on climate change, which had a huge boost to the successful convening of the Paris Climate Conference at the end of 2015. In a joint statement issued by the heads of state of China and the United States in 2014, each proposed the post-2020 climate action goals. In the 2015 statement, both sides emphasized the need to formulate action strategies by the mid-century to achieve the goal of global temperature heating no more than 2°C and promote the transformation of the global economy to a low-carbon transformation.
In addition to China and the United States twice issued joint statements on climate change, before the Paris Climate Change Conference at the end of 2015, China also reached and issued bilateral joint statements with the EU and major developed regions and countries such as Britain, France and Germany to build consensus and play an important role in guaranteeing the final conclusion of the " Paris Agreement ".
Paris Climate Change Conference "China Corner" is very active and attracts much attention. Photography丨Lu Xuedu
During the Paris Climate Change Conference, President Xi Jinping personally attended the conference to guide and promote negotiations. This is the first time that China's highest leader has attended the conference since China participated in the climate change negotiations. The Chinese delegation actively coordinated the positions of developed and developing countries, sought common ground while reserving differences, and was praised by all parties. The Paris Climate Change Conference finally passed the Paris Agreement, which was a complete success. The Paris Agreement Negotiation Conference has become a symbol of China's beginning to lead the response to global climate change.
Climate change negotiations after 2016 focus on formulating the implementation rules of the Paris Agreement. The Chinese government delegation has always been the main driving force in the negotiation process. In December 2018, the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change was held in Katowice, Poland, and the "package of Implementation Rules" was adopted. The specific results were prominently reflected in four aspects: national independent contributions, , transparency issues, climate financing and technology transfer. During this period, the fifth assessment report on climate change (AR5) compiled by IPCC global scientists was approved in 2014. Similar to the fourth assessment report, the fifth assessment report includes the natural science foundation, the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of climate change, climate change mitigation and comprehensive reports. In November 2018, the IPCC issued a special report, "Special Report on Global Warming by 1.5℃", pointing out that to achieve the goal of controlling the temperature within 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world needs to undergo an unprecedented large-scale low-carbon transformation and achieve near-zero emissions by around the middle of this century.
"Climate Change 2021: Basics of Natural Science" provides the latest assessment of scientific knowledge about earth warming and future warming forecasts. Source: IPCC official website
From August 2021 to April 2022, the IPCC successively released the reports of the three working group of the sixth assessment report (AR6): "Climate Change 2021: Basics of Natural Science", "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability", "Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change". The reports bring together recent advances in climate science to assess the impact of climate change on ecosystems at the global and regional levels, biodiversity and human communities, and the impact of national climate commitments on long-term emission targets. During this period, the Chinese government formulated and implemented a series of policies, measures and action plans to deal with climate change, and established a good image of consistency between words and deeds.
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China included climate change as an important part of the national ecological civilization construction, and proposed that my country should guide international cooperation in responding to climate change and become an important participant, contributor and leader in global ecological civilization construction. These requirements in the report of the 19th National Congress have become important guidelines for our government to formulate climate change strategies and policies. In 2018, in accordance with the deployment of the reform of government institutions in my country, the functions of responding to climate change and emission reduction were transferred to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, enhancing the coordination between responding to climate change and environmental pollution prevention and control and the integrity of ecological and environmental protection.
The "target for responding to climate change by 2020" set by the Chinese government is ahead of schedule to achieve by 2017: China's unit GDP carbon dioxide emissions in 2017 fell by about 46% compared with 2005, exceeding the target of 40%-45% of carbon intensity in 2020 three years ahead of schedule; the proportion of non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption reached 13.8%, and the afforestation and forest protection task continues to be promoted. On July 16, 2021, the national carbon market officially started. The cumulative trading volume of the quota at the first anniversary of operation was 194 million tons, the cumulative trading volume was 8.492 billion yuan, and the average quota price was 43.77 yuan/ton. In June 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and 17 other departments jointly issued the "National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035", which made overall arrangements for the current work of adapting to climate change from 2035.
The 25th UN Climate Change Conference was held in Madrid, Spain Photography丨Deng Wenjie
The most important landmark action during this period was that President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the general debate of the 75th UN General Assembly on September 22, 2020, announcing that China will increase its national voluntary contribution: "Carbon dioxide emissions strive to peak by 2030, and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by by 2060." President Xi’s statement has caused a huge response around the world. The United Nations, international organizations and governments of major countries highly appreciate China’s majestic goals to protect the global climate. Subsequently, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia , South Africa, Brazil and other countries also announced their respective carbon neutrality targets. As of the end of 2021, 136 countries around the world have put forward carbon neutrality commitments, covering 88% of the global carbon dioxide emissions, 90% of the GDP and 85% of the population.
It can be said that China's carbon peak carbon neutrality goal has played a leading and huge role in enhancing global efforts to respond to climate change. After President Xi Jinping announced the "dual carbon" goal, when formulating the "14th Five-Year Plan" goals, the domestic policy and actions were formulated with the "dual carbon" goals as a guide. In formulating plans and plans, local governments also regard the "dual carbon" goals as a guide for formulating local actions to respond to climate change. Among them, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of my country, the People's Bank of , and five other departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Climate Investment and Financing" in December 2020, and launched a pilot program of climate investment and financing in December 2021, and promoted the implementation and implementation of specific actions to respond to climate change through financial means.
The foreign aid projects for climate change during this period, in addition to continuing to promote the development of the carbon market and promoting the formulation of CCUS policies, capacity building and engineering demonstration, low-carbon technology promotion and low-carbon urban construction have become new highlights. The Asian Development Bank has established technical assistance projects to support the formulation of relevant policies, regulations and technical guidelines required for the construction of the national carbon market; supports the implementation of CCUS-related policy research, capacity building and feasibility study on engineering demonstration; cooperates with the Hunan Provincial Government to promote low-carbon technology investment and holds the Asia-Pacific low-carbon technology forum in Changsha every year; promotes the Xiangtan low-carbon urban development project as the ADB loan project, becoming the first urban planning and construction project with low-carbon development as the goal. The World Bank and the EU continue to provide assistance to China's national carbon market construction. The EU and the UK continue to support China in promoting CCUS technology research and development and engineering demonstration, and have built a CCUS engineering demonstration platform in Guangdong. During this period, China's foreign climate change assistance has also been accelerated and improved and achieved positive results. As of July 2022, China has allocated more than 1.2 billion yuan to carry out South-South cooperation in climate change, signed 43 climate change cooperation documents with 38 developing countries, and trained more than 2,000 officials and technical personnel for more than 120 developing countries. In addition, China also plans to establish a South-South Cooperation Fund for Climate Change to enhance cooperation with other developing countries in protecting the climate.
6. Important Climate Action Results in the past decade
From the above-mentioned efforts of China to protect the global climate, especially in the past 10 years, the following 8 actions and achievements demonstrate China's efforts and contributions to actively respond to climate change, and have played an important and critical role in promoting and leading the global climate protection.
The first is to set and promote the implementation of the carbon peak carbon neutrality target. The achievement of is of epoch-making significance at the global level, because China's action has led most countries around the world to set their own carbon neutrality goals and action plans, greatly promoting the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Today, the "dual carbon" goal has become a guide for various industries and localities in my country to promote high-quality and sustainable development.
The second is to comprehensively improve the party and government management mechanism to protect the climate. my country strives to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. It is a major strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee after careful consideration. It is an inherent requirement for my country to achieve sustainable development and high-quality development, and it is also an inevitable choice to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. To this end, various industry departments, local party committees and governments have included the work schedule and assessment content to promote the realization of the "dual carbon" goal, comprehensively improving the intensity and level of the Party and government's management of the "dual carbon" work, and ensuring the smooth progress of the "dual carbon" work.
The third is to establish a carbon market as an important means to deal with climate change. China launched the national carbon market in 2021, which has received high attention and evaluation from the world. After one year of operation, it has proved that China's carbon market can be an important market means to promote the implementation of the "dual carbon" goal. The smooth operation and development of China's carbon market will bring a demonstration role to other developing countries and enhance their confidence in establishing their own carbon markets. The development of China's carbon market will also play a decisive role in the establishment of the global carbon market.
The fourth is to issue guidance on climate investment and financing, establish professional climate investment and financing institutions, and promote the funds raised to respond to climate change. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment and five other departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Climate Investment and Financing" and carried out a pilot program of climate investment and financing, which is a world's first. The relevant policies, guidelines and methodologies of China's climate investment and financing will provide practical experience and important references to other countries around the world, especially developing countries.
The fifth is to formulate and implement the "National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035". The strategy of has made overall plans and deployments for the current work of adapting to climate change from 2035, clarifies the basic principles that should be adhered to in adapting to climate change, and puts forward the goals of adapting to climate change by 2035. This plays an important reference and demonstration role for developing countries in the world, especially.
The sixth is to promote the conclusion of the Paris Agreement and promote the entry into force and implementation of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement reached on December 12, 2015 is the most important achievement in the world in protecting the climate in the past 10 years. President Xi Jinping personally deployed and participated in coordination in the last critical stage, which led to the conclusion of the Paris Agreement. In 2016, President Xi Jinping and then-US President Obama signed the Paris Agreement and handed over to UN Secretary-General Guterres in person, which greatly promoted the entry into force and implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The seventh is to establish a multilateral and bilateral consultation mechanism such as the "Basic Four", China-US, China-EU, China and Japan, and promote the process of protecting the global climate. In the past 10 years, China has been promoting the global climate change response process, especially at key stages and nodes, using the multilateral and bilateral consultation mechanisms such as the "Basic Four", China-US, China-Europe, China-Japan, China-Canada, etc. to discuss and resolve major disputes in climate change negotiations and promote cooperation, and has become an indispensable and important party in promoting the United Nations to protect the climate.
The eighth is to promote South-South cooperation in responding to climate change with other developing countries. While promoting its own climate protection, China also assists other developing countries in improving their ability to respond to climate change through capacity building, providing facilities and equipment for emission reduction and adapting to climate change, and helping to establish low-carbon parks and communities. South-South cooperation in climate change has made China more prominent in becoming a leader and contributor to global climate change response. At the same time, the Chinese government also guides and requires Chinese overseas enterprises to fully consider the requirements of emission reduction and adaptation to climate change in their investment and cooperation, and help investment target countries improve their ability to respond to climate change.China's assistance and efforts in this regard have been highly appreciated by the vast number of developing countries.
77. Outlook on China's future climate protection action
China has formulated and promulgated "1+N" policies and measures to promote the realization of the "dual carbon" goal, and local governments have also formulated plans and plans that conform to local reality. It can be foreseeable that under the leadership and guidance of the central government, China will surely achieve a series of major achievements in responding to climate change. The following aspects are worth looking forward to:
First, China will be able to achieve the climate change response goals of the "14th Five-Year Plan" in accordance with the scheduled plan and achieve carbon peak by 2030. According to the "dual carbon" target plans and plans of departments and localities that have been promulgated, China is expected to achieve carbon peak by 2030.
Second, China will be able to contribute a series of innovative achievements to the global response to climate change, such as China's national management mechanism for responding to climate change, policies and measures adopted, experience in building and operating carbon markets, climate investment and financing policies and operation management, etc.
Third, China will be able to contribute a large number of green and low-carbon technologies and equipment to the world. China's promotion of the "dual carbon" goal will surely greatly promote the research and development and application of low-carbon zero-carbon technologies and equipment, form a low-carbon zero-carbon industry and equipment, and significantly reduce the cost of these technologies and equipment. This will make a huge contribution to enhancing global capacity to respond to climate change. China's practices and results in large-scale development of photovoltaics and wind power in the past are the best cases and proofs.
Fourth, China will be able to provide more assistance and more low-carbon zero-carbon investment and financing support for other developing countries to respond to climate change. As China itself continues to achieve new achievements in advancing the dual-carbon goal, China will be able to share these achievements more with other countries, especially developing countries, and bring more low-carbon zero-carbon investment and financing, technology and equipment.
In short, as China continues to achieve new achievements and success in achieving the "dual carbon" goal, China's leading role in protecting the global climate will be more prominent. China also needs to prepare for such a role and play such a role in all aspects.
Edit丨Wang Qiurong
Source丨"Sustainable Development Economic Guide" 2022 Issue 9-10
Original title: "China's Actions and Achievements in Protecting the Global Climate", the editor has slightly deleted the article.
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