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Speaking via video link to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “green revolution” and said the country will expand its goals under the agreement. Paris Climate Change, a commitment by 187 countries to reduce their carbon emissions.
Xi said that China aims to reach maximum carbon emissions by the end of the decade and achieve carbon neutrality in 40 years. It is the first time that China has issued concrete plans to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions.
“China will increase its planned nationally determined contributions by adopting more aggressive policies and measures,” Xi said. “We call on all countries to seek innovative, coordinated, green and open development for all.”
China is the world’s largest contributor of gases that warm the planet and uses more coal than the rest of the world combined.
But the country is also a world leader in renewable energy and in recent years has taken a stronger public stance on climate action.
Xi said that the coronavirus pandemic has shown that “humanity can no longer afford to ignore repeated warnings from nature.” He called on countries to pursue a “scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation” to achieve a “green recovery of the world economy in the post-Covid era.”
Climate activists welcomed Tuesday’s announcement, but cautioned that Xi’s words and promises must now be backed by concrete action in the years and decades to come.
Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, said
in a Twitter post that Xi’s commitment “is an important sign that responding to the climate crisis is a priority and a priority on China’s agenda.”
“Moving this announcement into a concrete plan is critical so that China’s decisions at the national level coincide with this commitment,” Morgan said.
European Union leaders, who had been pushing China to commit to carbon neutrality in early 2050 at a virtual summit with Xi last week, also welcomed the news.
“I welcome President Xi’s announcement that China has set a date for its CO2 emissions to peak and become carbon neutral by 2060,” Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Green Deal.
said on Twitter. “We need decisive action from all countries to keep temperatures under control, address climate change and keep our planet habitable.”
The Chinese president’s statements ran counter to those of US President Donald Trump, who used his UN speech to criticize China’s record on carbon emissions and called the Paris agreement a “unilateral agreement.”
“Those who attack America’s exceptional environmental record while ignoring China’s rampant pollution are not interested in the environment,” Trump said Tuesday during his pre-recorded address to the UNGA.
The United States is the world’s second-biggest polluter, behind China, and the Trump administration has repeatedly rolled back environmental regulations, from replacing the Clean Power Plan to trying to loosen fuel economy standards.
Trump is also pulling the United States out of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to reduce global warming gas emissions and keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Different speeches on climate action by the two biggest polluters come ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in the Scottish city of Glasgow next year, which is seen as vital in ensuring global cooperation for reduce the emissions that warm the planet and avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
Before the meeting, countries will need to increase their commitments to reduce emissions to move towards meeting the Paris targets.
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