Full Text: Enhanced Actions on Climate Change: China's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions
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E-mail Xinhua, June 30, 2015
China on Tuesday announced its enhanced actions and measures on climate change in a document submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Following is the full text of the document:
Enhanced Actions on Climate Change:
China's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions
Climate change is today's common challenge faced by all humanity. Human activities since the Industrial Revolution, especially the accumulated carbon dioxide emissions from the intensive fossil fuels consumption of developed countries, have resulted in significantly increasing the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, exacerbated climate change primarily characterized by global warming. Climate change has significant impacts on global natural ecosystems, causing temperature increase and sea level rise as well as more frequent extreme climate events, all of which pose a huge challenge to the survival and development of the human race.
Climate change is a global issue that requires the collaboration of the international community. For years, in accordance with the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (hereinafter referred to as the Convention) have been working to enhance cooperation and achieved positive progress in the implementation of the Convention. To further enhance the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention, negotiations and consultations are now under way on enhanced actions beyond 2020, so as to reach an agreement at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention in Paris at the end of 2015. This will open up a new prospect for green and low-carbon development across the globe and promote sustainable development worldwide.
As a developing country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, China is among those countries that are most severely affected by the adverse impacts of climate change. China is currently in the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization, confronting with multiple challenges including economic development, poverty eradication, improvement of living standards, environmental protection and combating climate change. To act on climate change in terms of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing climate resilience, is not only driven by China's domestic needs for sustainable development in ensuring its economic security, energy security, ecological security, food security as well as the safety of people's life and property and to achieve sustainable development, but also driven by its sense of responsibility to fully engage in global governance, to forge a community of shared destiny for humankind and to promote common development for all human beings.
In accordance with relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, China hereby presents its enhanced actions and measures on climate change as its nationally determined contributions towards achieving the objective set out in Article 2 of the Convention, which represent its utmost efforts in addressing climate change, and contributes its views on the 2015 agreement negotiations with a view to making the Paris Conference a great success.
I. ENHANCED ACTIONS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
China attaches great importance to addressing climate change since long, making it a significant national strategy for its social and economic development and promoting green and low-carbon development as important component of the ecological civilization process. It has already taken a series of climate actions which represent a significant contribution to combating the global climate change. In 2009, China announced internationally that by 2020 it will lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40% to 45% from the 2005 level, increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to about 15% and increase the forested area by 40 million hectares and the forest stock volume by 1.3 billion cubic meters compared to the 2005 levels. In this connection, China has enacted and implemented the National Program on Climate Change, the Work Plan for Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emissions during the 12th Five-Year Plan Period, the Comprehensive Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction for the 12th Five Year Plan Period, the 12th Five Year Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction, the 2014-2015 Action Plan for Energy Conservation, Emission Reduction and Low-Carbon Development, and the National Plan on Climate Change (2014-2020). China has accelerated the adjustment of its industry and energy structures and invested great efforts in improving energy efficiency, lowering carbon emissions and enhancing the ecosystem. China has initiated carbon emission trading pilots in 7 provinces and cities and low-carbon development pilots in 42 provinces and cities to explore a new mode of low-carbon development consistent with its prevailing national circumstances. By 2014 the following has been achieved:
- Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP is 33.8% lower than the 2005 level;
- The share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption is 11.2%;
- The forested area and forest stock volume are increased respectively by 21.6 million hectares and 2.188 billion cubic meters compared to the 2005 levels;
- The installed capacity of hydro power is 300 gigawatts (2.57 times of that for 2005);
- The installed capacity of on-grid wind power is 95.81 gigawatts (90 times of that for 2005);
- The installed capacity of solar power is 28.05 gigawatts (400 times of that for 2005); and
- The installed capacity of nuclear power is 19.88 gigawatts (2.9 times of that for 2005).
China is accelerating the implementation of the National Strategy for Climate Adaptation, and improving its capacity to respond to extreme climatic events and making positive progress in key areas of climate change adaptation. Capacity building on combating climate change is further strengthened. Supports in terms of science and technology are further enhanced by implementing China' s Science and Technology Actions on Climate Change.
Looking into the future, China has defined as its strategic goals to complete the construction of a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way by 2020 and to create a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally developed and harmonious modern socialist country by the middle of this century. It has identified transforming the economic development pattern, constructing ecological civilization and holding to a green, low-carbon and recycled development path as its policy orientation. New industrialization, urbanization, informatization, agricultural modernization and greenisation will be promoted in a coordinated manner. Resource conservation and environmental protection have become the cardinal national policy, placing mitigation and adaptation on equal footing, promoting innovation in science and technology and putting in place the necessary management and regulatory mechanisms and systems. China will accelerate the transformation of energy production and consumption and continue to restructure its economy, optimize the energy mix, improve energy efficiency and increase its forest carbon sinks, with a view to efficiently mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. China is making efforts to embark on a sustainable development path that is in line with its national circumstances and leads to multiple wins in terms of economic development, social progress and combating climate change.
Based on its national circumstances, development stage, sustainable development strategy and international responsibility, China has nationally determined its actions by 2030 as follows:
- To achieve the peaking of carbon dioxide emissions around 2030 and making best efforts to peak early;
- To lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 60% to 65% from the 2005 level;
- To increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20%; and
- To increase the forest stock volume by around 4.5 billion cubic meters on the 2005 level.
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