China and EU pledge cooperation on climate change as China sets new goals
Fri 10 July 2015
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In advance of the landmark Paris climate change conference, China has announced new goals for climate change mitigation post-2020. There is also news of closer cooperation between China and the EU on emissions reduction and the prospect of China's greenhouse gas emissions peaking in the next five to ten years, earlier than previously expected.
China's greenhouse gas emissions could peak in the next five to 10 years according to a report jointly published by two institutes at the London School of Economics. Analysing trends in the key emissions sectors, researchers concluded in the report that China's greenhouse gas emissions stand a high chance of peaking by 2025, much earlier than 2030, the upper limit set by the Chinese government last year.
China's shift to 'greener' growth has profound implications for the global economy according to the report, and "greatly increases the prospects for keeping global greenhouse gas emissions within relatively safe limits", according to the report.
China recently made fresh pledges on fighting climate change, setting out ambitious targets beyond 2020 in what it calls its "utmost efforts" in tackling the global challenge.
The world's largest greenhouse gas emitter aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60% to 65% from the 2005 level by 2030. That goal will be a big step further from China's previous emission control target, which projected a decrease of 40% to 45% from the 2015 level by 2020.
In 2014, carbon emissions per unit of GDP were 33.8% lower than the 2005 level.
Apart from the emission target, China also lays out plans to expand the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030 from the 11.2-percent ratio in 2014.
In a related development, China and the European Union (EU) have agreed to enhance cooperation on climate change. The move came as a joint statement on climate change was issued after visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with EU leaders in Belgium.
According to the statement, China and the EU are committed to working together to reach an "ambitious and legally binding agreement" at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015 which aims to enhance the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, based on equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
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