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China’s Climate commitments
Why is it in News?
- President Xi Jinping has promised China would be carbon net-zero by 2060.
Details:
- China’s announcements:
(1) China’s will achieve its emissions peak from committed “by 2030” to “before 2030”.
(2) China would become carbon net-zero by the year 2060.
- Net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorptions and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
- Efforts to achieve net zero target:
(1) Increase forest sink
(2) Create technologies which can physically remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
- Climate Change Scientists:
(1) Global carbon neutrality by 2050 is the only way to achieve the Paris Agreement target of keeping global temperatures from rising beyond 2°C compared to pre-industrial times.
(2) At the current rate of emissions, the world is headed for a 3° to 4°C rise in temperatures by 2100.
Why China announcements significant:
(1) China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
(2) It accounts for almost 30% of global emissions.
(3) Since countries have been reluctant to pledge themselves to such long-term commitments, China’s commitment might give push to other countries.
- Big Four — China, the US, the European Union and India — who together account for more than half the global emissions.
- So far, the European Union was the only big emitter to have committed itself to a net-zero emission status by 2050.
- India’s commitment:
(1) India has resisted pressure to make a long-term commitment, citing the fact that developed countries had utterly failed in keeping their past promises.
(2) India argues that the climate change actions it has been taking are, in relative terms, far more robust than those of the developed countries.