China does hard yards on climate

Renewable energy

China's rapid economic growth has created room for large investment in renewable energy, experts say.

The cumulative installed capacity of renewable electricity generation in China had reached 934 million kilowatts by the end of last year, accounting for 42.5 percent of the country's total electricity-generating capacity, the energy news portal Beijixing Electricity Net reported. Last year 140 million kilowatts of renewable energy was installed, 17.5 percent more than in 2019, the National Energy Administration said.

Byford Tsang, a senior policy adviser with the climate change think tank E3G, said: "All efforts to reduce emissions should be recognized. All countries should contribute to reducing global emissions to the best of their abilities.

"Developed countries do shoulder a bigger share of responsibility to address climate change, according to the 'common but differentiated responsibility principle' of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change charter. At the same time, developing nations should also avoid 'locking-in' their power systems with fossil fuels, such as coal, as greener and cleaner alternatives become more widely available."

The cost of electricity from solar fell 82 percent between 2010 and 2019, Tsang said, largely because the rapid scaling up of production capacity, primarily led by China, has played a key role in driving down costs.

China is the first major developing country to put forward a carbon neutrality goal, Tsang said.

"To stay ahead in the race for global climate leadership, China should set out the policies and legislation to institutionalize the climate goal－something that the UK and the EU have done, but the US has yet to do."

A goal to keep global warming at well below 2 C and an aspirational limit of 1.5 C was agreed to by countries at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, at which China was widely seen as pivotal in concluding the accord. Some analysts are now saying 1.5 C must be reached to effectively tackle climate change.

Astrid Nordin, Lau Chair of Chinese International Relations at King's College London, said: "The positive Chinese efforts that are made to tackle climate change need to be increased and sped up."

Climate change is a clear threat to lives and livelihoods in China and elsewhere, so it is very clearly in the interest of China to do everything it can to mitigate climate impact, she said.

Hirst said the problem for many countries is that "efforts that might normally be regarded as admirable are shown to be inadequate now that we understand the full severity of the climate crisis. China is inevitably in the frame because its population and its economy are so large.

"There are serious social and political difficulties in running down a coal industry, as the UK discovered in the 1970s and Germany is experiencing now, not to mention the need for alternative power. It is not going to be easy."

China's top climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua said earlier that while "some countries are pushing to rewrite the Paris Agreement … we have to understand the different situations in different countries, and strive to reach a consensus".

Industrialized countries especially in the West, were able to become rich before carbon reduction controls came in, he said, and developing economies should not be expected to make such heavy reductions.

Another cornerstone of the 2015 Paris Agreement was the pledge developed countries made to provide at least $100 billion in financial assistance from public and private sources to help developing countries cut greenhouse gas emissions.

However, that has not been fulfilled, said Tsang of E3G, who sees this as one of the major obstacles for COP 26.

"Despite setting long-term climate goals, the US has not institutionalized its targets in the form of legislation, unlike the EU. Fear of a possible change of administration in 2024 and the US reversing course on climate policies could also be a hindrance on US-China engagement on climate."