Experts hail nation's new climate plan

President Xi Jinping's announcement of an updated climate action plan under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement underscores China's unprecedented ambition and steadfast commitment in addressing climate change, providing much-needed confidence to global climate efforts, experts said.

In a video speech to the United Nations Climate Summit 2025 held in New York on Wednesday, Xi said that China will, by 2035, reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10 percent from peak levels, while striving to do even better.

The country also aims to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 percent and expand the installed capacity of wind and solar power to more than six times the 2020 levels, bringing the total to 3,600 gigawatts, he said.

By that time, Xi added, China's total forest stock volume will exceed 24 billion cubic meters, and new energy vehicles will dominate new vehicle sales.

China's national carbon emissions trading market will be expanded to cover major high-emission sectors, and a climate-adaptive society will be basically established, he said.

The targets Xi announced are inscribed in China's new Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, part of a climate action plan under the Paris accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate impacts.

Under the 2015 pact, which aims to keep the rise in global temperatures this century well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 C, each party must establish an NDC and update it every five years.

Zhang Haibin, associate dean of Peking University's School of International Studies, said that China's NDC update once again sends a strong and clear signal that the country is an active participant, contributor and trailblazer in global climate governance.

The announcement comes as climate governance faces multiple internal and external challenges, heightening concerns and diminishing confidence in the international community, Zhang said.

He noted that within the global process, US President Donald Trump announced the US' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement earlier in 2025 and adopted a series of policies opposing action on climate change, severely disrupting global governance and creating significant uncertainty.

He also pointed to adverse impacts from intensifying geopolitical conflicts and frequent international tensions. Such crises, including the Ukraine conflict, have diverted attention away from the climate challenge, reduced resources to address it and further undermined confidence in global climate governance, Zhang said.

"At this moment, confidence is incredibly important and valuable," he said.

In this context, China's new NDC shows its active stance and firm commitment to advancing global climate governance, which will significantly boost the international community's confidence, he said.

A statement from the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation said that the NDC update represents the first time China has proposed a comprehensive set of post-2030 climate targets encompassing the entire economy and aiming for net reductions across all greenhouse gases.

2030 marks the time before which China aims to peak its carbon dioxide emissions.

The statement said, by 2035, China's net greenhouse gas emissions are projected to fall by more than 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from peak levels, exceeding the combined reductions achieved by the US and the European Union in the five years after their respective peaks.

Aligning with emissions reduction pathways required to realize targets under the Paris Agreement, China's new NDC shows unprecedented ambition and strength, and also provides guidance for industrial and technological development over the next decade, the center said.

"China has also vowed to strive to do better if conditions permit. This reflects a more proactive and determined strategic resolve," it emphasized.

Wang Can, director of the Joint Pollution Control and Carbon Reduction Research Center at Tsinghua University's Institute for Carbon Neutrality, said the aggregated ambition of current NDCs is far from sufficient to meet the targets under the Paris Agreement. He was speaking at a forum that saw his institute unveil the 2025 Global Carbon Neutrality Annual Progress Report.

As of the report's publication, 48 countries had submitted their NDC updates, he noted.

"If all countries fully implement their NDCs, global emissions could be reduced by -1 to 7 percent by 2030 and 4 to 13 percent by 2035 compared to 2019 levels, far from the Paris Agreement aligned mitigation pathway," he said.

According to the 2025 report, the total annual funding needs of developing nations are approximately $470 billion, but the international climate finance they actually receive is about $35 billion.

It said that only eight developed countries have currently met their 2025 funding commitments, and the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement puts further pressure on addressing the overall funding gap.

"Meeting developing countries' need for support can reduce 9 percent of the ambition gap, which is the most straightforward and predictable way to promote global carbon neutrality progress," he said.