China’s new ambitious commitment to reduce carbon emission has been announced by Li Keqiang, the Premierof China, in June 30 in France, where The 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference(COP21) will be held from November 30 to December 11.
According to the document that has been submitted to the Secretariat of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by China, China will struggle to reach the carbon emission peak around 2030, cutting the carbon emission per unit of GDP by 60%-65% compared that of 2005.
Compared with China’s last carbon emission reduction goal in Copenhagen of 40%-45% reduction by 2020, this target shows China’s fast growing ambition and resolution to decrease carbon emission. Besides, other developed countries haven’t increased their goals as much as China has.
However, China has been accused by other countries of the instantaneous CO2 emission of recent years. But it is the accumulative carbon emission that mainly results to global warming, not the instantaneous CO2 emission in several years. And China’s accumulative carbon emission from the first industrial revolution in 1750 to the year of 2030 is still less than that of Europe or America. And the accumulative emission of America and Europe is respectively 1.4 times and 1.2 times of China’s. And, if the aggregation is divided by the number of people of that country, China’s result will fall far behind that of America and Europe.
Besides, the carbon emission per person of a country will start to decrease after reaching the emission peak as the growing of the per-capita GDP. And these developed countries have already reached the peak of carbon emission, while China still stands in the emission peak period. But China is sparing no effort in avoiding following the tracks of America and Europe, which puts environment protection totally behind the economic development.
The per-capita GDP was twenty thousand to twenty five thousand US dollars when the developed countries reached the carbon emission peak. And according the 2030 emission goal, China’s per-capita GDP will hardly approach fifteen thousand US dollars when China reaches the emission peak, which means China will realize modernization with producing the a very small amount of CO2.
In order to accomplish the 2030 emission goal, China will vigorously promote the development of hydrogen power, nuclear power, wind power, solar power and geothermal energy, biomass energy and ocean energy, which will cost China one hundred thousand CNY. And the general cost will be four hundred thousand CNY.
