Xi announces China's 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions to beef up climate response

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered video remarks to the United Nations Climate Summit held in New York on Wednesday local time.

Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a pivotal year for countries to submit their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and global climate governance is entering a key stage, he made the following three proposals.

First, Xi said it is important to firm up confidence. "Green and low-carbon transition is the trend of the time. While some country is acting against it, the international community should stay focused on the right direction, remain unwavering in confidence, unremitting in actions and unrelenting in intensity, and push for formulation and delivery on NDCs, with a view to providing more positive energy to the cooperation on global climate governance," he said.

Second, Xi called for living up to responsibilities. "Fairness and equity should be upheld and the right to development of developing countries fully respected," he said. The global green transition should serve to narrow rather than widen the North-South gap. Countries need to honor the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, whereby developed countries should take the lead in fulfilling emission reduction obligations and provide more financial and technological support to developing countries, he added.

Third, Xi stressed the importance of deepening cooperation, adding that international coordination in green technologies and industries should be strengthened to address the shortfall in green production capacity and ensure free flow of quality green products globally, so that the benefits of green development can reach all corners of the world.

Xi announced China's new NDCs as follows: China will, by 2035, reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent to 10 percent from peak levels, striving to do better; increase the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 percent; expand the installed capacity of wind and solar power to over six times the 2020 levels, striving to bring the total to 3,600 gigawatts; scale up the total forest stock volume to over 24 billion cubic meters; make new energy vehicles the mainstream in the sales of new vehicles; expand the National Carbon Emissions Trading Market to cover major high-emission sectors; and basically establish a climate adaptive society.

He stressed that these targets represent China's best efforts based on the requirements of the Paris Agreement, and meeting these targets requires both painstaking efforts by China itself and a supportive and open international environment, and China has the resolve and confidence to deliver on its commitments.

Climate response is an urgent yet long-term task, Xi said, calling on all parties to step up actions to realize the beautiful vision of harmony between man and nature, and preserve planet Earth, the place called home.