China.org.cn | November 1, 2022
Bloomberg:
Climate change has fueled a substantial increase in severe weather events that have caused droughts and flooding in China and around the world. My question is, will China take more actions to address threats by climate change? And what will these measures be? Thank you.
Zhai Qing:
Thank you for your questions. These are very important questions. Climate change is a prominent global challenge at present, which concerns the common interests of the international community. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that tackling climate change is not something others ask us to do, but something we should do ourselves. It is an inherent requirement of China's sustainable development and a responsibility in further building of a human community with a shared future. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress clearly stated that we should carry out coordinated industrial restructuring, pollution control, ecological conservation and climate response, while working actively and prudently toward the goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. We will resolutely implement these measures.
For a long time, China has fully integrated its climate response into the overall strategy for national socio-economic development and has taken the response to climate change as important leverage for promoting ecological progress and achieving high-quality development. Through the implementation of the national strategy to actively respond to climate change, China has taken a series of policy measures such as adjusting its industrial structure, optimizing the energy mix, improving energy efficiency, establishing a market mechanism, and increasing its forest carbon sinks. Positive progress has been made in all these areas. In 2020, China's intensity of carbon emissions dropped by 48.4% compared with 2005, exceeding the goal promised to the international community. In 2021, the proportion of coal in China's total energy consumption dropped to 56.0% from 72.4% in 2005, and the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption reached 16.6%. The installed capacity of renewable power exceeded 1 billion kilowatts, and the installed capacities of wind, photovoltaic, water and biomass power generation ranked first in the world. China is the country with the largest growth of forest resources and the largest area of artificial afforestation in the world, and is the main force in increasing greenery in the world. We have successfully launched the national carbon market with the largest coverage of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, and effectively played the role of market mechanism in controlling greenhouse gas emissions and promoting green and low-carbon transformation. We have implemented a national strategy to adapt to climate change and continued to carry out pilot projects to build adaptive cities. As such, our ability to adapt to climate change continues to improve.
At the same time, we are actively contributing to global climate governance. As the largest developing country in the world, China will achieve the world's biggest reduction in the intensity of carbon emissions, and go from carbon peaking to carbon neutrality in the shortest time in global history, which fully reflects China's responsibility as a major country. We have adhered to multilateralism, the principle of fair, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and actively promoted the signing, putting into force and implementation of the Paris Agreement. We have actively carried out South-South cooperation with developing countries in response to climate change, done our best to help developing countries, especially small island countries, African countries and the least developed countries, improve their capacity to cope with climate change and reduce the adverse effects of climate change.
Going forward, China will continue to implement the national strategy of actively responding to climate change, implement the "1+N" policy system for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of key areas, and vigorously promote the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. We will steadily and orderly promote the national carbon market. We will accelerate efforts to make technological breakthroughs of green and low-carbon technologies and their promotion and application, and promote green and low-carbon ways of production and life.
Meanwhile, we are willing to work with all parties to actively participate in global governance to address climate change, promote the establishment of a fair, reasonable, cooperative and win-win global climate governance system, continue to deepen South-South cooperation on climate change, and contribute China's strength, wisdom and solutions in the response to global climate change. Thank you.