Commission praises China's climate action

China has made important contributions to carbon emission reduction, and the world should work together to address climate change, experts said.

"It has been incredibly important that China is committed to the Paris Climate Agreement, particularly since unfortunately President Trump decided to deny the science of climate change and take America out," said Adair Turner, chair of the Energy Transitions Commission. The commission is an organization of diverse individuals from the energy industry and climate communities across the world to address key issues in climate change.

China has been a very important part of the global community and has made a commitment to the Paris agreement, and everybody recognizes that China has been a very responsible player in its commitments, for instance to the Nationally Determined Contribution, limiting greenhouse gas growth and reaching an emissions peak, according to Turner.

China is also a major driver of technologies important for the future, such as renewable energy, electric vehicles and batteries, he said.

Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent think tank headquartered in US aiming to transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous and secure low-carbon future, also spoke highly of the leadership role China has played in scaling up decarbonization technology.

Both of them said NDC commitments made by China and other countries including those in America, Australia and Europe, if added up, will take us to a world which will warm by 3 or 4 degrees, not on target for the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement aims to keep a global temperature rise this century of below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue a higher target of limiting the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Li Zheng, executive vice president of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable development at Tsinghua University and commissioner of the ETC, said China is well on track to meet its Paris commitments ahead of schedule.

Li also said principles of the agreement include equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances, and since developed countries have advanced energy structures and resources already, it is relatively easy for them to achieve the 1.5 degree target.

For developing countries such as China, it is a long journey to fulfill such a hard task, he said.

In Europe, and among many leading companies in the world, there is increasing belief zero-carbon by 2050 is what is required and possible for leading companies and countries, Turner said.

Although NDCs are not enough to pursue the targets of the Paris agreement, the agreement is still an existing and unique document that holds many countries together, and different countries should do their best to address climate change under its principles, Li said.

ETC and RMI jointly released a report last Friday that suggested approaches China could take to further decarbonize, such as accelerating renewable electricity generation with capacity improvements in storage, flexibility and demand response, using electrification, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage and bioenergy to achieve full decarbonization of heavy industries, and higher electrification levels in the transport sector with higher energy efficiency and less waste.

It also advocated a shift toward a more circular economy, with far more efficient use and greater recycling of key material and wider deployment of advanced heat pump technologies and building insulation to deliver heating and cooling to houses and offices in a zero-carbon fashion, with long-distance industrial waste heat transportation and biomass also playing a role in specific circumstances.