资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

On 22 September 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that China would aim to peak its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. While taking on a global leadership role in the energy transition offers China economic and diplomatic opportunities, the challenges are equally tremendous. As the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions—with an energy system heavily reliant on coal—reaching carbon neutrality would require a fundamental change in China’s energy supply systems and in the way energy is consumed. This also implies a profound transformation in China’s economic structure and a shake-up of the fossil fuels industry, a politically powerful lobby, raising questions about the drivers behind this announcement and the next steps. Is the pledge a diplomatic ruse that China’s leadership has no intention to keep? If it is not, and Beijing is contemplating it in earnest, how will China reach carbon neutrality? Such a massive structural shift would require rapid action to get China onto this new trajectory  and therefore raises the question of how will the upcoming 14th Five Year Plan (FYP, 2021-2025) reflect this new ambition.