中国努力应对气候变化

The annual report on China’s efforts in countering climate change comes before the Paris Agreement takes effect today. In April, China signed the significant international legal document dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance, starting in the year 2020.

The global fight against climate change is a race against time. At the G20 summit in September this year, the United States and China, the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, announced they would formally ratify the Paris climate change agreement. It was seen as a significant advance in the battle against global warming.

To fulfill its commitment to the Paris climate pact, China will cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels. It will also have to increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent, and peak its carbon emissions by 2030.

China plans to launch its national carbon trading scheme in 2017. The scheme is on track and pilot programs have already traded 120 million carbon allowances, with the total volume of transactions amounting to about U.S.$472 million.

As for climate aid, China has helped establish a South-South cooperation climate and sustainability fund under a U.N. framework.

China’s delegation of more than 80 negotiators will depart for the upcoming global climate change negotiations in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Tuesday.