China trusted force in global climate governance

By Gao Xiang 

Photo shows a wind farm in Jinhu county, Huai’an, east China’s Jiangsu province. (Photo/Liang Debin)

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a milestone as global climate governance enters a decisive phase.

Convening in Belem, Brazil, the 30th United Nations climate change conference focuses on major climate issues, calling on the international community to work together to find shared solutions to the climate crisis, accelerate emissions reduction, strengthen climate resilience, and advance an inclusive and just transition.

At present, policy backtracking and inconsistency in some countries have created new obstacles for global climate governance. As a responsible major country, China has remained firmly committed to multilateralism, honored its own pledges, deepened international cooperation, and worked to build broad consensus. Through concrete and pragmatic actions, China has injected confidence into the global climate response.

A decade ago, amid diverging interests among nations, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the opening ceremony of the Climate Change Conference in Paris.

He stressed that the Paris Agreement should help meet the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and chart the course for green development, help galvanize global efforts and encourage broad participation, help increase input of resources to ensure actions on climate change, and accommodate the national conditions of various countries and lay emphasis on practical results.

China has made unremitting efforts to advance global cooperation on climate change, driving all parties to reach the Paris Agreement through arduous negotiations, demonstrating true multilateralism.

A new energy vehicle is assembled in a factory of Chinese carmaker BYD in Brazil. (People’s Daily/Song Yiran)

In 2009, China voluntarily announced its 2020 carbon intensity reduction target. Following years of extraordinary effort, the country fulfilled that commitment ahead of schedule. In June 2015, to help build momentum toward the Paris Agreement, China announced its nationally determined contribution (NDC) target for 2030, demonstrating strong resolve to drive forward multilateral climate governance.

In 2020, at a time when global climate action was losing momentum, China announced its dual carbon goals, giving fresh impetus to global climate governance. In September this year, China unveiled its 2035 NDC, making a historic shift from carbon-intensity control to absolute emissions reduction and expanding targets for the first time to the entire economy. This marks not only China’s concrete implementation of the Paris Agreement, but also sets the direction for its green and low-carbon transformation over the next decade.

China has earnestly fulfilled its NDC commitments and advanced its dual carbon goals in a well-coordinated and steady manner. The country has established a “1+N” policy framework, in which “1” refers to an overall framework of the dual carbon policy, while “N” represents the specific policies and implementation plans formulated by various government departments and local authorities, covering multiple fields and industries, and pursued institutional innovation and technological breakthroughs to enable green transition, offering a “Chinese approach” to global emissions reduction.

By 2024, non-fossil energy accounted for 19.8 percent of China’s primary energy consumption. The country achieved ahead of schedule its 2030 targets for total installed capacity of wind and solar power, as well as forest stock volume. It has remained the world’s largest producer, installer, and exporter of renewable energy equipment for many consecutive years, and its production, sales, and export of electric vehicles have overtaken those of traditional auto producers.

China’s national emissions trading system covers over 60 percent of the country’s carbon emissions. Furthermore, the country is a pioneer in climate adaptation, including early warning systems for climate disasters, the construction of climate-resilient cities, and the conservation and restoration of mangrove forests. These efforts reflect China’s role as a nation of solid action and concrete contributions in tackling climate change.

Since China proposed to set up 10 pilot low-carbon industrial parks, launch 100 mitigation and adaptation programs and provide 1,000 training opportunities on climate change cooperation in developing countries in 2015, the country has provided or mobilized more than 177 billion yuan ($24.9 billion) in project funding, offering strong support to other developing countries.

Photo shows a power box of the solar power generation system used in the Africa Solar Belt program. (Photo provided by the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China)

By the end of 2024, China had hosted more than 300 capacity-building workshops on climate change through South-South cooperation, training over 10,000 experts from more than 120 developing countries. Through the establishment of low-carbon demonstration zones, and the provision of photovoltaic systems, early warning equipment, clean stoves, and other supplies, China has helped partner countries enhance their capacity to address climate challenges.

Electricity is fundamental to modernization, and clean energy is essential for green transformation. In September 2023, to implement the Declaration on China-Africa Cooperation on Combating Climate Change, China announced the launch of the Africa Solar Belt program at the first Africa Climate Summit.

This June, the Sao Tome and Principe project under the Africa Solar Belt program was delivered. As a small island developing state, Sao Tome and Principe has long suffered from electricity shortage, an acute bottleneck that undermines both residents’ quality of life and the country’s attractiveness to foreign investors.

The project provided the country with 3,100 sets of household photovoltaic systems, benefiting about 1/10 of all households. “It used to be completely dark here at night. After 6 p.m., we could only stay indoors. Now the solar system has changed our lives. We are very grateful to China for providing this assistance,” said Margarida, a local resident.

Over the past decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, China has honored its commitments through concrete actions, advancing low-carbon transformation, strengthening climate adaptation, and actively promoting South-South cooperation.

In doing so, China has honored its commitments and demonstrated the sense of responsibility befitting a major developing country, emerging as a trusted leader in global climate governance. Through concrete actions, China has helped steer global efforts and contributed to building a fair and rational global climate governance system directed towards cooperation and mutual benefit.

Gao Xiang is a research fellow at China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

People’s Daily