People's Daily:

Mr. Ye, my question is what progress and achievements have been made regarding our country's response to climate change? What's the plan for the next step? Thank you.

Ye Min:

Thank you for your questions. China attaches great importance to dealing with climate change. China's responses to climate change are an important part of its efforts to achieve eco-environmental progress. In recent years, China has implemented a national strategy of actively responding to climate change and made positive progress through a series of policy measures including adjusting industrial structure, improving the energy mix, conserving energy and improving energy efficiency, establishing market mechanisms, and increasing forest carbon sink. The progress is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, China has effectively limited greenhouse gas emissions. China's carbon intensity in 2020 decreased by 18.8 percent compared with that in 2015 and dropped by 48.4 percent compared with that in 2005, which means that China had more than fulfilled its commitment to achieve a 40 to 45 percent reduction. China has basically reversed the rapid growth of its carbon dioxide emissions. Second, China has made progress in optimizing its energy mix. In 2020, China's non-fossil energy contributed 15.9 percent to China's total energy consumption, an increase of 8.5 percentage points compared with 2005. China has significantly reduced its reliance on coal consumption and made prominent progress in optimizing its energy mix. Third, China has constantly improved the national carbon market. A national market for trading carbon emission rights was officially launched on July 16, 2021. In its first performance cycle, China's power generation industry had a total of 2,162 major enterprises, covering over 4.5 billion tons of carbon emissions each year, making the market the world's largest in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions covered. In addition, China has launched pilots and demonstrations on low-carbon development, constantly improved its ability to adapt to climate change, and raised the awareness of low-carbon development in all sectors of society. While addressing climate change at home, China has actively participated in global climate governance. It has played a historic role in promoting the conclusion, entry into force, implementation and formulation of detailed rules and regulations of the Paris Agreement. We also have actively engaged in South-South cooperation on climate change and helped other developing countries – in particular least developed countries, African countries, and small island countries – build a capacity to fight climate change.

In 2020, President Xi Jinping announced the goals to peak carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. The CPC Central Committee made important arrangements for the related work. Recently, the CP China Central Committee and the State Council jointly released a document titled "Working Guidance For Carbon Dioxide Peaking And Carbon Neutrality In Full And Faithful Implementation Of The New Development Philosophy" and an action plan for peaking carbon emissions before 2030. China is accelerating its work on the 1+N policy system for peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality.

In the next step, we will further implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. First, we will work actively to meet the goal of the 14th Five-Year Plan 2021-2025 on climate change. We will allocate the binding targets of reducing the carbon intensity by 18 percent to local governments. Second, we will promote actions to peak carbon emissions, push forward the implementation of the 1+N policy system framework for peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, and promote the building of an economic system that facilitates green, low-carbon, and circular development. Third, we will reinforce the coordination between responding to climate change and protecting the eco-environment. We will decrease the emissions of both pollution and carbon, and strive to achieve synergy and efficiency. We will also step up the formulation of an implementation plan for synergizing the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions. Fourth, we will continue to improve the building of the national carbon market. We will move forward on the introduction of provisional regulations on the administration of carbon emission rights trading . On the basis of a well-functioning carbon market in power generation industry, we will gradually expand the market to cover more high-emission industries. Fifth, we will advance the development of relevant systems, and implement a system that focuses on carbon intensity control supplemented by total carbon emission control. We will also establish the statistical and accounting mechanism and data management mechanism for greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a long-term mechanism for compliance. Sixth, we will raise public awareness of low-carbon development, and continue to promote the campaign of the National Low Carbon Day, so as to ensure that production modes and people's lifestyle become green and low-carbon. Seventh, we will ensure the preparation and implementation of a national strategy of adapting to climate change for 2035, and improve the ability of urban and rural construction, agricultural production, and infrastructure to adapt to climate change. We will also strengthen observation and assessment of climate change impacts. Eighth, we will continue to actively participate in international climate change negotiations, and step up efforts to build an equitable global climate governance regime that is cooperative and beneficial to all. Moreover, we will continue to carry out South-South cooperation on climate change. That's all. Thank you.