China's fresh commitment hailed as major contribution to global climate action

BEIJING - Confronted with the urgent yet long-term challenge of climate change, China's renewed announcement of its climate governance plan has reaffirmed the country's determination to press ahead in the next decade, officials and experts have said.

China's new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) announced at the United Nations Climate Summit this week signaled its entry into a new phase of resilient, low-carbon development, and that it will contribute further to realizing the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, they said.

According to the new NDCs, China will reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions from peak levels by 7 percent to 10 percent by 2035, striving to do better.

"It is the first time China has set an absolute emissions reduction target, marking the country's shift from intensity-based control to total emissions control," said Li Gao, vice-minister of ecology and environment.

The world's second-largest economy also announced 2035 goals to increase the share of non-fossil fuels to over 30 percent of its total energy consumption, and to expand its installed wind and solar power capacity to over six times the 2020 level, striving to bring that capacity to 3,600 gigawatts.

The country will also scale up its total forest stock volume to over 24 billion cubic meters, make new energy vehicles the main stream in sales of new vehicles, expand the National Carbon Emissions Trading Market to cover major high-emissions sectors, and basically establish a climate-adaptive society, per the new NDCs.

These goals have been set based on the country's national realities, and in line with the requirements of the Paris Agreement and the global stocktake, said Chai Qimin with the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

They reflect the country's greatest possible efforts, taking full account of economic growth, energy security, and industrial and supply chain stability, while balancing development with emissions reduction, Chai added.

NDCs are national climate action plans that each country under the Paris Agreement submits, and they must be updated every five years with increasing ambition.

In 2020, China set the dual carbon goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. Meeting these targets requires extraordinary efforts from the world's largest developing country as it entails achieving the greatest reduction in carbon intensity within the shortest timeframe in history.

With sustained efforts, China has made notable progress to that end. According to the Chinese government, the country's installed renewable energy capacity totaled 2.159 billion kilowatts by the end of June 2025, accounting for approximately 59.2 percent of its total installed power generation capacity. And the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption in its overall energy consumption rose from 15.9 percent in 2020 to 19.8 percent in 2024.

An official of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that China has consistently taken concrete actions to advance its dual carbon goals while contributing expertise and resources to global efforts to combat climate change.

On global climate governance, for example, China firmly upholds the multilateral mechanisms established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, having made historic and significant contributions to the adoption and implementation of the Paris Agreement.

China is also actively advancing the global green transition, supplying 60 percent of the world's wind power equipment and 70 percent of its photovoltaics, driving global wind and solar power generation costs down by more than 60 percent and 80 percent, respectively. During China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) to date, China's wind and photovoltaic products have helped other countries reduce carbon emissions by approximately 4.1 billion tonnes.

The NDRC official said that China has strengthened South-South cooperation on climate change response. To date, China has implemented over 300 capacity-building projects, and provided training for more than 10,000 personnel from over 120 developing countries. Since 2016, China has mobilized and provided project funding exceeding 177 billion yuan ($25 billion) to assist other developing countries in addressing climate change, supporting their climate action efforts significantly.

Zhang Haibin, deputy dean of Peking University's Institute of Carbon Neutrality, said that China's new NDCs are of great significance to global climate governance.

"They will boost international confidence in global climate governance, strengthen global climate action, promote international cooperation on tackling climate change, and highlight China's leading role in global climate governance," Zhang said.