China ramps up global green cooperation

SHANGHAI: China will build bigger platforms and provide more support to enterprises from all other countries to have exchanges and build cooperation in the green and low-carbon sectors in the country, say government officials.

The move is part of the nation’s broader efforts to honour its climate change commitments and make more contributions to world climate governance.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative on climate change affairs, said at a forum in Beijing: “China has always been and will continue to be a key participant, contributor and pioneer in global climate governance, firmly implementing the principals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“And this is regardless of if climate policy rollbacks take place in other countries.

“China’s carbon goals are ambitious, but its actions are pragmatic,” Xie said, adding that the nation has not only the resolve but is also taking concrete actions to promote international cooperation in dealing with climate change.

Su Wei, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), also said that China will proactively conduct green and low-carbon trade and investment cooperation with others and strengthen related technological exchanges to jointly tap third-party markets for win-win results.

Economic policy

At a forum here last Saturday, a second edition following the first in 2021, was jointly held by the international cooperation centre affiliated with the NDRC, the environmental and economic policy research centre under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University.

It aims to raise awareness of joint efforts to press ahead with climate action.

“Together with others, China has been safeguarding international industrial and supply chain stability and resilience in green and low-carbon sectors and sharing with the rest of the world its green and low-carbon development opportunities,” Xie said.

China has signed agreements with more than 50 countries and international organisations for cooperation on energy preservation, renewables, smart power grids, energy storage, carbon capture and utilisation, green building, low carbon traffic, and green financing, among others, Xie said.

Coordinated development

According to Xie, this will boost innovation and transformation in relevant areas for coordinated development in order to strengthen actions and their effects on climate change mitigation.

Official data showed China’s carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 48.4% in 2020 from 2005 levels, exceeding its commitment of a cut of 40% to 45%.

That was equivalent to a reduction of about 5.79 billion metric tonnes of carbon emissions.

Energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by 42.6% from 2005 to 2020, with a cumulative reduction of 2.2 billion tonnes of standard coal consumption.

The nation has achieved average annual GDP growth of 6.5% from 2012 to 2021, with average energy consumption rising only 3% annually.

Su, with the NDRC, said mitigating climate change is a mission for every society and China will firmly follow a green and low-carbon growth pathway, make full efforts to realise its carbon goals and closely cooperate with the international community to act together and create a shared green future.

“Facing challenges, cooperation and development remain the expectations of people around the world,” Su said.