BEIJING/SHANGHAI ,Oct 26,2020: Chinese leaders will discuss ambitious new measures to tackle climate change on Monday at a government plenum to finalise a new five-year national development plan, after Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to make the country “carbon neutral” by 2060.
Policymakers are under pressure to include radical climate targets in the new 2021-2025 “five-year plan”, with the COVID-hit economy weighing on their decisions.
Government departments drawing up the document were scheduled to complete the first draft by April, but Xi’s announcement to the United Nations that the country will offset all its emissions within 40 years meant they must integrate the new climate goals.
Xie Zhenhua, formerly China’s top climate official and now advisor to the environment ministry, told Reuters that while the new targets were “based on ample research and calculation”, everyone would now have to make adjustments.
Before September, few expected China to promise more ambitious curbs on climate-warming greenhouse gases over the next five years, with policy documents signalling Beijing’s intent to make energy security and the economy its top priorities. It was also expected to go on a new coal-fired power construction spree, but government scholars have been forced to revise their old drafts.
Experts say China needs to bring the share of coal in its total energy mix from 58% last year to less than 50% by 2025, and provide enhanced support for technology like carbon capture.
It could start by setting an absolute emissions cap for the first time, said Zou Ji, head of the Energy Foundation China, which has been involved in five-year plan research.
Beijing also bet on new infrastructure to drive its economic recovery, and official data showed a spike in demand for energy-intensive products like steel and cement.
But China now has to rethink its plans, government researchers said.
Zou said Xi’s announcement put climate firmly at the heart of China’s entire economic and political strategy, and China’s entire economic structure now faced “systematic change”.
“Climate will never be a side issue,” he said. “Its position is much, much higher than before.”
