No soft options in pursuit of climate goals
With clean energy targets set, pressure is mounting on government bodies and regions to take decisive action
As the two sessions get underway on Thursday, many stakeholders in China and around the world are wondering what measures the country will unveil to achieve its ambitious target of realizing carbon neutrality within four decades.
In September, President Xi Jinping announced China will aim to reach a carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
However, even before the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the race to achieve peak carbon emissions was gathering pace.
Five provincial-level regions have vowed to spearhead efforts to reach the carbon target as the country enters the 14th Five-Year Plan (20212025).
They are made up of rich regions such as Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces and Shanghai, and also the less-developed provinces of Hainan and Qinghai.
Nobody knows which region will be the next to join, but it seems clear those lagging behind will face increasing pressure to make contributions to meet emissions targets.
No exceptions
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s work report released on Feb 1 paid a lot more attention to carbon reduction than the previous one, mentioning it 67 times compared with eight.
Huang Runqiu, minister of ecology and environment, said in the report that the ministry will mobilize “proactive factors” to unite “all forces that can be united”.
He said all-out efforts will be made to address climate challenges, including those that emerge as the country forges ahead on its “urgent and arduous task” to meet the climate targets.
This is despite the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the economy. “Due to the epidemic, there are still some uncertainties facing the country’s socioeconomic development. Concern for environmental protection has abated in some areas,” Huang said.
“With hazy understanding of the carbon peak and neutrality, some provincial regions’ impulses are to launch projects with high energy consumption and emissions.”
Despite the challenges, the country will accelerate the transition to green and low-carbon energy, Huang said.
Under a general task of aligning carbon reduction with cutting air pollutants, higher priority will be given to control of carbon dioxide emissions.
“Projects with high energy consumption and emissions will be severely restricted,” he said.
In the meantime, efforts will be made to foster green, low-carbon technologies and industries to create new development impetus during the five-year plan.
Improvement urged
The work report was made public only three days after the release of a central environmental inspection report into the National Energy Administration, that urged the authority to step up measures to promote the transition to a low-carbon energy system.
The central environmental inspection team urged the administration to attach more importance to incorporating the transition to clean, low-carbon energy into law.
The inspectors reported to a central leading group headed by Vice-Premier Han Zheng, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
The NEA and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration are the first two central government bodies covered by the inspection.
The report also asked the NEA to introduce more measures to enhance the nation’s renewable energy capacity, while encouraging the administration to ramp up supervision over power development in key regions. It also called for more efficient use of allowances for power production capacity and faster phasing out of outdated production capacities.
Some NEA officials think ensuring power supply is the top priority of the energy sector. Unreasonable distribution of energy production and overexploitation of resources also need to be addressed, the report said.
Clear message
Dimitri de Boer, a special adviser to the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, said the NEA was one of the first ministry-level departments to receive an environmental inspection.
“It reflects the strong emphasis China’s leadership is placing on climate action, and integrating environmental considerations into broader government decisions,” he said.
It is commendable that the “very powerful tool” of environmental inspection is being used to accelerate climate transition, he said.
He Jiankun, vice-chairman of the National Committee of Experts on Climate Change, said the country urgently needs to establish effective supervision and performance appraisal systems to address the rebound in demand for fossil fuels. This was a result of local governments expanding coal-fired power generation, as well as production levels in the steel and petrochemical sectors, He said.
“President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that China will unswervingly fulfill its targets and fully honor its commitments,” he said. “This has sent a clear message that will chart the course for the development of enterprises and industries.”
He said that because of the 2030 and 2060 targets, the expansion of projects with high energy consumption will be curbed during the fiveyear plan.
China has to rush to achieve in just 30 years what developed countries have 45 to 70 years to do, presenting a greater challenge for the nation to reach carbon neutrality, according to experts.
But as Xi said while addressing the 12th BRICS summit via video link on Nov 17, “You can count on China to keep its promise.”