Achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality, why can China raise this banner?

On September 22, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping stated at the 75th United Nations General Assembly: "China strives to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060." The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China set carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as goals for the 14th Five-Year Plan and the 2035 long-term vision. On March 15, 2021, the 9th meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission further emphasized incorporating carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into the overall layout of ecological civilization construction.

At the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Communist Party of China and the Chinese people have solemnly declared to the world through courageous and tenacious struggle that the Chinese nation has achieved a great leap from standing up, becoming prosperous to becoming strong." This demonstrates the party's responsibility and the great power's commitment in addressing global climate change.

As the world's largest developing country, China's manufacturing industry remains in the mid-to-low end of the international industrial value chain, coal consumption still accounts for over 50%, carbon dioxide emission intensity per unit of GDP is about 30% higher than the world average, and the long-term mechanism for addressing climate change is not yet sound. Achieving carbon peaking before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060 will be an extraordinarily arduous task requiring great effort. Why can we raise the banner of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality? Our confidence comes from the following four reasons.

The strong leadership of the Communist Party of China is the decisive factor in achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.

Since its founding, the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people through countless hardships to achieve great victories in revolution, construction, and reform and opening up, fulfilling the historic mission of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Under the party's leadership, China has achieved a great leap from standing up, becoming prosperous to becoming strong. Since the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the entire party and people of all ethnic groups to forge ahead and innovate, achieving the great victory of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Socialist China now stands more majestically in the East of the world.
 
At critical historical junctures and major tests, the Party Central Committee's judgment, decision-making, and action often play a decisive role. This was true during the revolutionary and construction periods and is also true in responding to global climate change. Against the backdrop of rising global climate security risks and frequent domestic disasters, China actively responds to global climate change, strengthens cooperative governance, and safeguards global climate security. Looking back at history, China has actively participated in global climate governance as a major power. China was among the first parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and has reached the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, making important contributions to their implementation rules. Although the United States irresponsibly withdrew from the Paris Agreement, China has adhered to its requirements and rules, upheld its commitments to the international community, and steadily advanced energy conservation and emission reduction, achieving remarkable results. By 2019, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP had decreased by 48.1% compared to 2005; the share of non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption rose from 7.4% in 2005 to 15.3% in 2019; and the total consumption of renewable energy accounted for 22.9% of the world total in 2019, up from 2.3% in 2005, surpassing the United States' 20.1% share.
 
On the centenary of the Communist Party of China, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee established carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as goals for the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the 2035 ecological civilization construction. The 9th meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission explicitly proposed including carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the overall layout of ecological civilization construction. Although the task of achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China is very arduous, under the wise leadership of the Communist Party of China, a series of decisions and deployments have been made from the central to local levels, fully demonstrating China's determination to actively respond to climate change and reflecting the responsibility of promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. We are confident in achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We will say what we do," and "China's words will be followed by actions, which will be firmly implemented."

The people-centered value is the driving force for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

Staying true to the original aspiration and keeping the mission firmly in mind, putting people first is the fundamental value pursuit and governance philosophy of the Communist Party of China. Since the 18th National Congress, the people-centered philosophy has been consistently integrated into the governance of the country by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. The people's aspiration for a better life is the goal of our party's struggle. Building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, leaving no one behind, and adhering to the social governance concept of joint construction and sharing all fully embody the people-centered governance philosophy. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread globally and the global economy was in recession, China stood out not only by achieving major victories in fighting the pandemic and becoming the safest country globally but also by being the only major economy to achieve positive growth. This is the result of the Communist Party of China staying true to its original aspiration and mission, putting the people's life safety and interests first in the fight against the pandemic. The party's governance process fully proves the scientific assertion of Marxism: "The proletarian movement is an independent movement of the vast majority, for the benefit of the vast majority."
 

With human activities impacting the global climate, the scope and severity of the climate crisis are increasing. Due to global warming, we are experiencing a series of disastrous weather and climate events such as heatwaves, floods, droughts, forest fires, sharp declines in biodiversity, and rising sea levels. The global average temperature is rising at an unprecedented rate. Experts predict that keeping global warming in the 21st century within 2°C above pre-industrial levels is the limit of human tolerance, but human activities are rapidly approaching this critical point, directly affecting the rise and fall of civilization and human security. The goals of carbon peaking and the vision of carbon neutrality are based on the fundamental interests of the people, aiming to leave a safe and comfortable Earth home for future generations. Starting a green and low-carbon era and achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality not only align perfectly with China's direction for high-quality development and building a modern strong country but also inject new vitality into the Paris Agreement and the multilateral process of global climate governance.
 
The ecological environment is a major political issue related to the party's mission and purpose, as well as a major social issue related to people's livelihood. Achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality meets the people's wishes, expectations, and urgent needs for a beautiful ecological environment and high-quality ecological products. As General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly pointed out, addressing climate change is an inherent requirement for China's sustainable development and an international obligation that a responsible major country must fulfill. This is not something others want us to do, but something we must do ourselves.
 
The advantages of the socialist system are the fundamental guarantee for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

A country's choice of system has its historical background and inevitability. The People's Republic of China chose the socialist system, which is not only the inevitable choice of the Communist Party of China in governance but also aligns with the fundamental interests of the entire nation. The Party's centralized and unified leadership and the people's democratic rule are the distinctive features and advantages of China's socialist system. Over more than seventy years since the founding of the People's Republic, we have continuously improved the socialist system to meet the people's needs to the greatest extent, with increasing comprehensive national strength and improving living standards, showing new vitality in the socialist system. At the 2020 National Commendation Conference for Fighting COVID-19, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The significant advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics are the fundamental guarantee for resisting risks and challenges and improving national governance efficiency." As long as we uphold and improve the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, we will surely withstand various risks and tests.
 

A major feature of China's socialist system is the ability to concentrate efforts on major tasks. An important manifestation of this is the Chinese Communist Party's role as the core leadership that oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties. After the Central Economic Work Conference included carbon peaking in the 2021 work plan last year, many provinces have incorporated carbon peaking into their local "14th Five-Year" plans, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shandong, Hainan, and other provinces and cities that have set clear carbon emission peak targets.
 
China's socialist system always places overall interests above all in society, which helps mobilize enthusiasm from all sectors of society. By fully utilizing the advantages of the new national system, concentrating the country's human, material, financial, and innovative resources, it continuously creates advantages in green investment, green innovation, green consumption, green industry, and green energy. Therefore, as long as the institutional advantage of concentrating efforts on major tasks is maintained, it will surely unite the entire Party and all ethnic groups across the country closely, form a nationwide coordinated effort, mobilize enthusiasm from all sides, and ensure the achievement of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.
 
China's advanced green energy layout and potential are an important foundation for achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.

Promoting energy supply-side reform and establishing a diversified supply system are important means to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. First, based on domestic diversified supply to ensure energy security, optimize the energy structure, and accelerate the construction of a safe, clean, low-carbon, and efficient energy system. Efforts are made to control and reduce the proportion of coal consumption and promote an early peak in coal consumption. Second, reasonably develop natural gas, safely develop nuclear power, vigorously develop renewable energy, and develop non-fossil energy power generation such as hydropower, wind power, solar energy, and biomass energy, actively producing and utilizing green hydrogen. Since 2010, wind and solar power generation technologies have developed rapidly. In 2019, despite the government having stopped subsidies for wind and solar power, the newly reported installed capacity of wind and solar power to the National Energy Administration still reached 30 million kilowatts.
 
China has abundant resource advantages for developing green and clean energy. In the vast northwest region, the Gobi desert has high solar radiation intensity and long duration. For example, Qinghai Province has already achieved 100% renewable energy power supply at the provincial and municipal levels. Qinghai has about 100,000 square kilometers of unused desert land available for new energy development, capable of developing photovoltaic power generation of 560 million kilowatts. Similarly, Yunnan, which has extremely rich hydropower resources, achieved a water energy utilization rate exceeding 99% in 2019, setting a world record. China has taken an important position globally in clean energy development, equipment manufacturing, and related low-carbon and zero-carbon technology research and innovation. It is expected that by 2025, non-fossil energy will account for 20% of primary energy; electricity will account for over 30% of terminal energy; non-fossil power installed capacity will reach 50%, and power generation will exceed 40%. At that time, renewable energy will play a major role and become the main source of energy growth during the "14th Five-Year" period. During the "15th Five-Year" period, some cities will take the lead in achieving carbon peaking before 2030, which is a very encouraging development prospect. Although we are about ten years behind developed countries in achieving carbon neutrality, the efforts and costs we have made are unprecedented, and the contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions is enormous.
 

"The green hills cannot be hidden; after all, the eastward flow continues." The wheel of human history rolls forward, and China's green development has become the trend of the times and an historical inevitability. In response to the global climate change challenge, China has gradually shifted from a participant and contributor to a leader, and its image as a responsible major country has been recognized by most countries in the world. China's ambitious goal of achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality will be an important force driving the global green energy transition and a key role for the world to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement by the middle of the 21st century.