China to launch ‘very powerful’ emissions reduction plan

Beijing, Sep 22 (efe-epa).- China will present “very powerful” carbon dioxide emission reduction targets before the end of the year, the country’s top climate crisis advisor said Tuesday.

Xie Zhenhua, who led the Chinese delegation in global climate negotiations from 2007 to 2018, said: “China is definitely going to launch a very powerful low-carbon development target.”

He vowed that the requirements of the Paris Agreement will be met before the end of the year and said the country is making “every effort” to accelerate and complete this process.

He warned that China, one of the world’s most polluting countries, will not become carbon neutral if it continues to rely on traditional and conventional methods and called for the country to take technological innovation seriously.

Xie added that zero-emission technologies can help reduce costs and achieve these environmental targets.

China issued $51.6 billion in green finance bonds in 2019 for projects that contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals.

Speaking during a videoconference discussion with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Xie said Beijing will design “very strict limitation policies” for coal-fired power generation.

There have been reports in the international press that China has continued to approve coal projects in recent years but he said the peak of consumption was in 2013 and has stabilized since 2015.

China consumes half of the world’s coal and 58 percent of the energy produced in the country came from this source in 2017.

Xie said the future will be in developing other energy sources such as gas or nuclear power and increase the weight of renewables in the national energy mix.