Pains for the gains of emissions reduction

Xinhua News Agency has published the opinions of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council on the goals to peak carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality.

The guideline document is a road map specifying what the country has to do to peak its carbon emissions before 2030 and realize carbon neutrality before 2060.

The central authorities are sober-minded and realize that pursuing low-carbon development is an undertaking full of challenges and risks, and the document takes into full account the complexity and difficulties of trying to cut emissions while promoting development.

Notably, the central authorities make risk prevention and management one of the five principles of the emissions reduction work, calling for a balance to be struck between emissions reduction and energy security, industrial and supply chain security, food security and people's normal lives, and effectively addressing economic, financial and social risks that may accompany the green and low-carbon transition.

The current electricity shortage in many provinces, which has seriously affected industrial production, business operations and people's lives, vividly illustrates the challenges and risks the country faces in reducing emissions, as energy consumption directly concerns production and people's livelihoods.

Thus, it is necessary for the authorities at all levels to gain a full understanding of the costs, challenges and risks associated with the emissions reduction work that is required to be done in a sustainable and healthy way. So that they can provide timely and targeted assistance to the vulnerable groups and vulnerable sectors that are most likely to be impacted by the necessary aggressive emissions reduction actions.

Meanwhile, more attention should be paid to minimizing the costs of the transition to green development, and raising the public's awareness of it, especially the enormous sacrifices the nation will have to make for the time being for long-term benefits, so that the nation can be better prepared for them by first correcting the seemingly entrenched thought that the road leading to green development will be as smooth and bright as the prospects the destination promises.