Policy unveiled set to advance carbon goals

Full Text: Working Guidance For Carbon Dioxide Peaking And Carbon Neutrality In Full And Faithful Implementation Of The New Development Philosophy

In a move to honor its climate commitment and further propel the building of an ecological civilization, China unveiled a master working guideline on Sunday that aims to elevate energy efficiency to an advanced international level and lift non-fossil energy consumption to over 80 percent of the whole by 2060.

China intends to have fully established a green, low-carbon and circular economy and a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system by 2060. It will be carbon neutral, will have achieved significant results in ecological civilization and will have reached a new level of harmony between humanity and nature by then, according to the document.

By 2030, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product will have dropped more than 65 percent, compared with the 2005 level, and the share of non-fossil energy consumption will have reached around 25 percent, with the total installed capacity of wind power and solar power reaching over 1200 gigawatts. Carbon dioxide emissions will have peaked and stabilized and then declined, it said.

In September last year, President Xi Jinping announced that China aims to have carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

The country is "firmly committed to a green, low-carbon and high-quality development path that gives primacy to ecological civilization", the guideline said.

Wang An, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the working guideline fully demonstrates China's sense of responsibility as a major economy in building a community with a shared future for mankind.

"The high concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been caused mainly by accumulated emissions from developed countries over the past over 200 years since the industrial revolution. They should shoulder larger responsibilities in reducing emissions," said Wang, who is also president of China International Engineering Consulting Corp.