The figure | original article published in the January 2021 issue of Environment & Life magazine in the "Gathering" section of the 155th issue of the magazine
Li Junfeng: We must join the global tide of carbon neutrality – an interview with the first director of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy Research and International Cooperation
◎ Reporter Zheng Tingying Intern Xu Lanxin
China put forward the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, which requires accelerating the adjustment and optimization of industrial structure, energy structure, and vigorously developing new energy. So, what should be the path to "carbon neutrality" in China? Where do the fossil fuels we used to rely on go? Can renewable energy stand up? With the above questions in mind, a reporter from Environment and Life interviewed Mr. Li Junfeng, the first director of the National Center for Strategic Research and International Cooperation on Climate Change on January 18.
Photo| On January 18, 2021, Director Li Junfeng was interviewed by a reporter from Environment and Life Magazine. Photo by Yu Baoyuan
The specific year is just a direction of effort
Environment and Life: Previously, some scholars suggested that China should achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In September last year, President Xi Jinping announced that China would "strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060." The time announced by the central government is before 2060, what do you think the 10-year time difference means to us?
Li Junfeng: First of all, the year is just a direction of effort, and I don't think there is any essential difference between 2050 and 2060. Carbon neutrality is a global vision for sustainable development in response to climate change. It doesn't matter if it is achieved in 2050 or 2060, it is important that everyone has a common understanding and move forward towards this goal. As President Xi Jinping said in his speech at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2020, "The Paris Agreement on climate change represents the general direction of the global green and low-carbon transition, the minimum action that needs to be taken to protect the earth's homeland, and countries must take decisive steps." "There's nothing wrong with working in that direction, so 10 more years or 10 years less is not a key factor." There are many uncertainties in development, and various reasons will lead to various obstacles to development.
Second, countries should adhere to equity, that is, adhere to the "common but differentiated responsibilities" and "principle of individual capabilities" to achieve low-emission development in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Developed countries such as the European Union and Japan are more aggressive and set the time to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050. Developing countries such as Mexico have set their target for 2075. China is in the middle of the two, and it can be said that it is not a completely developing country, so there is actually no substantive difference. We have set the time for 2060 in line with the two basic principles of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and "respective capabilities". As for whether it will be carbon neutral in 2060? If the conditions are ripe, it may be earlier, and if the conditions are not available, it may be slightly later, so our goal is to "strive for carbon neutrality by 2060".
Pictured| Director Li Junfeng (right) and Xie Zhenhua, then China's Special Representative for Climate Affairs, in Paris
Use the form of forced to promote development and transformation
Environment and Life: Considering that our country's industrial production value now ranks first in the world, how do you think China's industrial production should be transformed in the next 10 years under the constraint of carbon peaking?
Li Junfeng: Developed countries and regions, including Japan, the United States, especially the European Union, have already achieved carbon peaks, but this realization is hindsight. We can liken this thing to growing tall, whether you start at 17 and don't grow taller, or you don't grow tall since you're 20, you know it after the fact, and it's hard to predict when you won't grow tall.
However, China and developed countries are not the same, the central government put forward the carbon peak, carbon neutrality these two important development goals, is under special conditions, we must take some strong measures to force our development transformation. The Central Economic Work Conference made arrangements for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and called for adjusting the industrial structure and energy structure, so as to promote the early peak of coal consumption. When fossil energy peaks, especially coal, the consumption of coal can no longer grow, so it begins to force our development transformation, from a development model that is highly dependent on fossil energy to a new development model supported by non-fossil energy.
Controlling greenhouse gas emissions to promote our high-quality development and high-quality protection is a backward force. In the past, we lacked experience, so we took the form of pushback to promote development and transformation. On the road to carbon peaking, there must be many difficulties, just like losing weight, although it is very painful, but for the sake of physical health, it is necessary to force weight loss. Therefore, in order for our economy to develop with high quality and for our environment to be protected with high quality, we must make arrangements that are compatible with carbon peaking and achieve carbon peaking as soon as possible.
Photo| Director Li Junfeng (center) attends a meeting with German experts during the power generation abandonment coal alliance (PPCA) meeting
The improvement of quality of life is also the focus of development
Environment and Life: The U.S. carbon peaked in large part because the United States imported industrial products from developing countries and the American people consumed them. And a lot of China's carbon emissions are used in the production process, so from the perspective of carbon control, will our industrial output be reduced?
Li Junfeng: This is one of the purposes of our industrial structure adjustment. In the past, production-type consumption was too high, but consumer-type consumption was insufficient. For example, China's current per capita annual electricity consumption is about 5400 kWh, and most developed countries are not too different, but our per capita domestic electricity consumption is less than 1/5, and the general developed countries can reach 30% to 40%.
Basically, our past development has followed the principle of first producing before living. The "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes that the improvement of quality of life is also the focus of our future development. The "Sixteenth National Congress" and the "Seventeenth National Congress" put forward people-oriented, and the "Eighteenth National Congress" and "Nineteenth National Congress" put forward a people-centered development mode, that is, to improve the quality of life of the people. In our future development, we will definitely give more consideration to improving the quality of life of the people, rather than one-sidedly pursuing GDP. There are no clear requirements for GDP in the 14th Five-Year Plan, which means that China's development concept is also changing. We must have a philosophy, whether it is carbon peaking or carbon neutrality, the goal is to make people's lives better, not contrary to it. However, the improvement and improvement of our living standards is based on the transition to green and low-carbon development and the transformation of green and low-carbon life.
Photo| Director Li Junfeng (right) and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (center)
We must join the global tide of carbon neutrality
"Environment and Life": Some experts who support coal believe that coal is still a resource after all, and some imported oil can be replaced through coal chemical industry, so as to reduce our energy dependence on foreign countries. In addition, the cleanliness of coal-fired power generation is gradually increasing, and the air pollutants emitted are already very small. What do you think about the coal problem?
Li Junfeng: This kind of thinking is problematic. Don't always think about replacing imported oil, the next step is to reach the peak. Carbon neutrality as a whole is not just a massive reduction in coal, but also a massive reduction in oil, and in the future also includes natural gas. Therefore, now the fossil energy industry, including coal, should quickly consider how to transform, which is the most core thing, do not fall in love, this is a background of the times.
Next, if 75% of the world's GDP becomes carbon neutral, will China be outside the world? Whether it is a business or a country, if it is outside of carbon neutrality, it is an island. The world has always advocated multilateralism and international cooperation, so cooperation is a better choice. From this perspective, we must also participate in the big historical trend of global carbon neutrality.
Photo| Director Li Junfeng (right) and Icelandic President Grimsson (center)
As long as zero emissions are achieved, coal power will be no problem
"Environment and Life": In the next adjustment of China's energy structure, which energy source do you have relatively high expectations?
Li Junfeng: Basically, a common goal in the world now is to replace fossil energy with renewable energy. China has added "nuclear energy" to this, that is, replacing fossil energy with non-fossil energy (renewable energy plus nuclear energy). We are all moving towards basically the same goal. In fact, all energy sources, including fossil energy, as long as they can achieve zero emissions, they are also possible.
For example, if coal-fired power generation uses carbon capture technology to achieve zero emissions, it is also competitive in the market, which is no problem. Whether it is the low-carbon energy we use now, or the "zero-carbon energy" in the future, as long as it is low or even zero-emission, any energy we welcome. Technology is constantly advancing, renewable energy or non-fossil energy to replace fossil energy, or fossil energy to achieve carbon capture, carbon recycling is also possible.
Environment and Life: Please tell us more about carbon recycling, how is this achieved in terms of process?
Li Junfeng: If the electricity generated by renewable energy is very cheap to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen, we can use carbon dioxide and hydrogen to synthesize various fuels to replace our traditional fossil fuels. During combustion, carbon dioxide and water are discharged. Then the water is electrolyzed, and the resulting hydrogen and carbon dioxide continue to synthesize fuel... Then there will be a carbon cycle. This carbon cycle approach is not the only one, and there are many other ways to recycle carbon.
Although this carbon cycle method can currently be done in terms of process production, hydrogen is expensive and not yet economical. However, this carbon cycle method saves large-scale energy storage devices, and when hydrogen becomes cheap and carbon dioxide is free, this carbon cycle method has a place. Because hydrogen is difficult to store, carbon dioxide and hydrogen are synthesized into various fuels and stored in ready-made infrastructure. The carbon dioxide discharged after combustion, as long as it is captured and reused, is the recycling of carbon.
We just want the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to stop increasing, nothing more.
Photo | Director Li Junfeng took a group photo with Paraguayan youth
Sequestering forests alone is tantamount to a drop in the bucket
Environment and Life: From your professional point of view, what do you think is the future prospect of a technical route like biomass combustion power generation in China?
Li Junfeng: First of all, biomass energy has a certain potential in China, such as burning straw and various garbage for power generation, but it may not be suitable for large-scale promotion. For example, it is not a common phenomenon that the Saihan Dam in Chengde City, Hebei Province, was planted by generations of people who wasted a lot of energy and paid a high price. We will never be willing to cut down the trees of the Saihan Dam and burn them to generate electricity.
Second, biomass can be used as a carbon sink. Why was the land of the Northern Wilderness more fertile? Because a lot of biomass accumulates underground, the land is black, which was formed by nature in the past history, and we can learn from nature and try to increase the organic matter of the soil in some way. Improving the organic matter of the soil can not only form a carbon sink, but also make the soil softer, more breathable, and increase the activity of the soil. When the land is soft, the plant grows well, and conversely, if the soil is compacted, it is not breathable. So, we want more organic matter in the soil. With such a large land area in our country, if hundreds of millions of tons of straw can be returned to the field every year and turned into organic matter, it will be a very good carbon sink.
Finally, if afforestation is only to get energy, it is not as good as photovoltaic power generation, photovoltaic power generation conversion efficiency is at least 20%, and a variety of biomass, its conversion efficiency is generally a few thousandths, high is only about 1%. The conversion efficiency of photovoltaic power generation is significantly higher. In addition, photovoltaic power generation does not require water irrigation, nor does it need to use pesticides to kill insects, and the carbon emissions throughout the life cycle are much lower than that of growing bioenergy.
"Environment and Life": In China's Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang and other provinces, there are many hilly areas, planting economic forests, trees can be taken to build houses, some branches and leaves can be pruned down to do biomass energy combustion power generation. Wouldn't this model be more cost-effective?
Li Junfeng: First of all, the labor cost of collecting branches is very high, and it is actually not necessary. Man should not always worry about nature. Natural forests, that is, primary forests without human intervention, the ecological environment is very good. You don't have to worry about that. Many areas in ancient China were primitive forests, and the place in Qinling Was also a primitive forest before, and the primitive forests had their own purification and circulation methods, and now the closed mountains and forests are modeled on nature, that is, based on nature's solutions.
"Environment and Life": We plant trees and green the motherland, how much carbon emissions can we neutralize by planting these trees every year?
Li Junfeng: China has put forward a new target by 2030, and the forest stock will increase by 6 billion cubic meters compared with 2005. What is the concept of 6 billion cubic meters? For every additional cubic meter, after removing 50% of the moisture and ash, only about 0.5 cubic meters of lignin remains, which is equivalent to about 1 ton of carbon dioxide. In other words, if there is a forest carbon sink of 1.5 tons, it will reach the limit. In this way, compared with 2005, it can increase the forest carbon sink by 300 million to 400 million tons a year. But we now emit almost 10 billion tons of carbon a year. Comparing 400 million tons and 10 billion tons, these two disparities in the numbers are really a drop in the bucket. Forest carbon sequestration has ecological benefits such as biodiversity protection, water conservation, wind and sand fixation, etc., which are indeed very important, but we need too much neutral carbon, and forest carbon sequestration alone cannot solve the problem of carbon neutrality. At present, the most important thing is to reduce emissions, the central government has made it very clear that it is necessary to adjust the industrial structure to reduce the carbon intensity of unit GDP, and to improve the energy structure and reduce the carbon intensity of unit energy. Coupled with greening the land and increasing carbon sinks, it becomes easy to achieve carbon neutrality.
Photo| Director Li Junfeng (left) attended the "China Point" series of side events during the 2012 United Nations Climate Conference held in Doha, Qatar, and took a group photo with foreign guests.
The cost of nuclear power is getting higher and higher
Environment and Life: What do you think of the future of nuclear power in China?
Li Junfeng: The United Nations has nearly 200 countries, 15% of which have nuclear power and 85% of which do not have nuclear power. Nuclear power poses three problems, the first of which is safety, which the public is worried about, and there is a nejoination effect. Although Japan is well managed, due to various reasons, unsafe factors still exist, although China does not oppose the development of nuclear power and actively develops nuclear power, but domestic nuclear power construction also has a neighbor avoidance effect.
The second issue is nuclear proliferation. Nuclear safety is not only about security, but also about environmental safety, and nuclear devices are easily used by terrorists, so they cannot be popularized. It is not as popular as renewable energy, photovoltaic power generation, wind power generation, biomass power generation in any country has no problem, but the development of nuclear power in some countries will attract attention from all sides.
Third, the cost of nuclear power is relatively high. In order to pursue absolute safety, the cost of nuclear power is becoming higher and higher. With the advancement of technology, the cost of most energy is declining, but the cost of nuclear power has not decreased, but it is still increasing, which also restricts the development of nuclear power. For example, the cost of generating electricity at the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in the United Kingdom is much higher than that of offshore wind power in the United Kingdom.
"China's wind power resources are about to be developed" is inappropriate
Environment and Life: Is our country rich in offshore wind power resources?
Li Junfeng: China's offshore wind power is not the same as Denmark and the UNITED Kingdom. The land area of the United Kingdom can be seen as an egg yolk, and the surrounding sea is egg white, and the area of egg white is very large. The situation in our country is the other way around, basically the land is an egg white, while the ocean is an egg yolk, the area is very small, the wind is not particularly good, and there is also the problem of typhoons. Therefore, There are some wind power resources in China's offshore, but only as a supplement, because the amount is there, China now has nearly 300 million kilowatts of installed wind power capacity, but the installed capacity of offshore wind power is not even 10 million kilowatts.
"Environment and Life": There is a view that China's wind energy resources have been almost developed, and the remaining development space of wind power is also very limited.
Li Junfeng: We have to rely on data to speak. China Meteorological Administration in 2007 ~ 2014 did a number of wind energy resources census, China's land wind energy resources within the 100 meter altitude range, about 4 billion kilowatts, our current wind power installed capacity is about 250 million kilowatts, according to this calculation, we are only installed 1/16. If the height of the fan hub is increased by another 50 meters, wind energy resources may be doubled due to the increase in the area of the sweep and the increase in wind speed.
To take a simple example, we did a wind energy census before 2000, and the conclusion was that Jiangsu and Shandong provinces, except for the seaside, there are almost no suitable places for installing fans. But now Shandong has installed almost 20 million kilowatts, and even inland provinces such as Anhui and Henan have also installed 10 million or 20 million kilowatts. With the advancement of technology, the towers of wind power can be made higher and higher, the blades can be made longer and longer, and the original low wind speed can not be used, and now it can be used. With the lifting of the wheel hub, the wind resources are increasing. Therefore, I think that the statement that "wind power resources are almost developed" is still lacking.
Oil-producing countries are also vigorously developing new energy
Environment and Life: Even Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the oil-producing countries in the Middle East, are also in transition, for example, Saudi Arabia plans to use renewable energy to provide 50% of the power supply by 2030. In January 2017, you were awarded the 9th Zayed Future Energy Award by the UAE government for your personal lifetime achievement award, and you have had more exchanges with your counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Li Junfeng: This is a kind of planning for the future. For example, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is no longer dominated by the oil industry, but is now mainly doing finance, air transport and logistics, and everyone is changing. In the 1990s, Saudi Arabia's oil minister once said, "Mankind said goodbye to the Stone Age, not because the stones were used up." "Meaning, mankind said goodbye to the Stone Age because of bronze, with iron, with materials that were better than stone, to make tools. In the same way, human beings bid farewell to fossil energy not because fossil energy is running out, but there will be new energy in the future, non-fossil energy may be better to use, cleaner and more convenient than fossil energy, so Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should take precautions to do this.
Photo | Director Li Junfeng (front row, first from left) exchanged views with saudi energy and economy ministers
China's photovoltaic industry is already the world's leading
Environment and Life: How is China's current photovoltaic and wind power technology developing? At what level is it internationally?
Li Junfeng: Our photovoltaic power generation industry has basically formed the world's leading industry, what does the leading refer to? It is not the largest output or the most advanced technology, but the industry in the world is at your service. Because you account for more than 75% of the world's market share, it is said that people in colleges and universities and laboratories are serving Chinese enterprises. Compared with photovoltaics, China's wind power industry is worse, but it is also the world's leading.
China's photovoltaic companies have a strong sense of brand awareness, like LONGi shares with a market value of 400 billion yuan and Tongwei shares with a market value of 200 billion yuan, which have now developed. This is the same as Internet companies, Internet companies have a strong sense of brand awareness, whether it is Alibaba, JD.com, or Tencent, Huawei, they have not put China, Guangdong and other names in front, but the brand named after themselves, has a strong brand awareness, so it has slowly developed. The biggest problem in other industries is that they don't pay attention to brands.
"Environment and Life": China's photovoltaic power generation and wind power have occupied a dominant position in the global market, we are now turning around to vigorously promote emission reduction, will it help China's relevant enterprises to go global?
Li Junfeng: In terms of going global, China's photovoltaic companies have done a good job, 70% of their market is overseas, and 30% is in China. We are competitive. Sufficient market competition has created our photovoltaic industry, and wind power companies have also begun to lay out overseas markets, but compared with photovoltaics, the gap between technology and cost with foreign counterparts is not large, and the competitive advantage needs to be further improved. The general direction of global carbon neutrality is not only for China, but also for the development of wind power and photovoltaic companies around the world, and the market competition will be more intense, and our enterprises must adapt to this competition.
"Environment and Life": What is the highest conversion rate of the most advanced photovoltaic power generation?
Li Junfeng: This depends on different materials. For example, photovoltaic power generation facilities for aerospace can be close to 50%. The good energy on land can reach 25%, and now there are some new technologies and new materials emerging, and the conversion rate of photovoltaic power generation in the laboratory is still improving. At the same time, it should also be noted that the efficiency of photovoltaic power generation is also affected by light and temperature, where the light conditions are good and the heat dissipation conditions are good, the power generation efficiency is higher, and vice versa, it is lower, and there are many things that should be paid attention to in installation and use.
"Environment and Life": At present, the region with rich wind power and photovoltaic resources in our country is in the northwest, which is the same as the distribution of our traditional coal energy, is this correct statement?
Li Junfeng: To measure the photoelectric resources of a region, it is basically based on the number of hours of sunshine, that is, how much radiation from solar energy shines on the earth, and how much light energy can be converted into electrical energy. According to European standards, such as Germany's standards, most of our places are solar-rich areas, and poor light conditions account for only about 20% of our land area. In the area of Chongqing, Xiangxi, Zhangjiajie, Hunan and Shennongjia, Hubei, the rainfall is very large, and the lighting conditions are relatively poor, but its hydropower resources are relatively rich. But in general, the regions with the richest wind power and solar energy resources in China are the same as the distribution of coal resources, mainly in the west and north. This also has advantages, in the past, it was the transmission of electricity from the west to the east and the transportation of coal from the north to the south, and now it is possible to use the western and northern places where wind and solar energy are abundant to achieve the transmission of electricity from the west to the east and the transmission of north electricity to the south. In fact, Guangdong has begun to consider the development of wind power and photovoltaic resources in Inner Mongolia and other places.
"Environment and Life": How should the development of photovoltaic power generation resources in China be planned? Will relying on photovoltaic power generation to achieve carbon neutrality occupy our precious arable land resources?
Li Junfeng: China has more than 1.7 million square kilometers of Gobi desert, as long as we have 1/10 of the area for photovoltaic power generation, we can achieve carbon neutrality. The use of photovoltaic power generation to transport long distances to the eastern and southern regions has no technical problems. However, the eastern region must first rely on its own way to solve the problem, as far as possible in the local area with distributed generation to solve its own problems, and the insufficient part is then transported from afar.
For example, Shandong now has an installed capacity of more than 50 million kilowatts of wind power and photovoltaics, but it cannot see a few wind turbines and a few photovoltaic panels, because compared with the total land area, it is less than one percent.
"Environment and Life": Now, what problems do we have in photovoltaic power generation?
Li Junfeng: There will definitely be various problems with optoelectronic Internet access, which is not a technical problem, but a policy problem. The energy transition will definitely take a while. Why is it that the market plays a role in this and depends on policy support? I'll give you an example, just like a child doing homework, you ask him to finish it, and he will do it as required. If you say you can do it or not, you won't do it. I can reward you when done well through market behavior. But we must have a goal, to complete what specific task at what specific time. Therefore, the role of the government is very important, and it should also be implemented in the development of wind power and photovoltaics: let the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources and better play the role of the government, and the same is true for carbon neutrality.
Zero emissions can be achieved in steelmaking with electrolytic hydrogen
Environment and Life: Do you think that from the perspective of industrial restructuring, will the steel industry and the coal-fired power generation industry be greatly affected? The steel industry has now achieved electricity to make steel, what do you think?
Li Junfeng: From two aspects. First of all, as the consumption of steel accumulates to a certain extent, developed countries such as Germany, Japan, and the United States produce more than 75% of the steel from scrap steel, and only 25% need to supplement iron ore.
About 30 percent of China's steel production comes from scrap and 60 to 70 percent from iron ore. In another 10 or 20 years, we may be able to produce most of the steel from scrap steel, and we can make steel with electric furnaces, and we will no longer need so many blast furnaces.
Because the main component of iron ore is iron oxide, iron oxide must have a chemical substance to replace oxygen to become iron, and the role of coke is to make carbon and oxygen combine into carbon dioxide and reduce to iron. Its process is to use coke to increase the temperature, so that the coke is filled with a part of oxygen, and it becomes carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is very active, so it takes an oxygen atom from iron oxide and combines it to become carbon dioxide.
Carbon monoxide is a strong oxidant and very unstable, has a strong toxicity, and the production of carbon dioxide also has the problem of carbon emissions. In the future, we can also consider using hydrogen to take out the oxygen atoms of iron oxide and then turn it into water. If we still use coal to produce hydrogen, it will still not solve the problem of carbon dioxide emissions. But if you use renewable energy to produce hydrogen, such as wind power to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen, it becomes very clean. Such a process, although it seems very complicated, in fact, it is much simpler to become a chemical reaction equation.
Photo| In December 2019, Director Li Junfeng attended the 25th United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Madrid, Spain.
Engaged in climate change negotiations for decades
Environment & Life: When did you start focusing on climate change?
Li Junfeng: In January 1982, as soon as I graduated from The Shandong Institute of Mining and Technology (now the "Shandong University of Science and Technology"), I went to a research institute under the "National Energy Commission" at that time. However, the "National Energy Commission" was dissolved in March 1982. The institute where I worked changed its name several times and was finally called the "Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission".
I worked a little harder in college and learned some English. Now, everyone thinks that knowing English is not a specialty, but in that era, if you can speak two sentences of English, you will have many opportunities at work and you can participate in some international cooperation projects.
In 1984, China joined the World Bank, which began to study energy issues. Because I know some English, I studied energy problems with them and learned some related knowledge. In September 1987, 46 countries signed the Montreal Protocol in Montreal, Canada, and began specific actions to protect the ozone layer. Because I could speak some English, I was hired as an expert in ozone layer protection. In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body that assesses sciences related to climate change. At that time, it was difficult to find a few people in China who could speak foreign languages and discuss climate issues with foreigners, so I participated in the drafting of the assessment reports of the ipcc from the first to the fourth, and in 1994, together with colleagues from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, I prepared the first study on China's greenhouse gas emission control strategy.
In fact, people are very entangled in the study of climate change and have gradually gone through the process from scientific cognition to political consensus. Scientific understanding of climate change has been debated since 1859 when Irish scientists discovered the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere, and this debate has not stopped since the IPCC released its first assessment report in 1992.
Until the early 1990s, many people believed that climate change was a conspiracy imposed by imperialism on developing countries, and that the development of Western countries would hinder the development of developing countries. In fact, the process of climate change negotiations shows that everyone still starts from a good wish to protect our common home on earth. It was not until 9 May 1992 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which called for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Emission reduction is to control the consumption of fossil fuels, and to control only the developed countries, not the developing countries. Developed countries take the lead in reducing emissions, and then help developing countries to reduce emissions. Developing countries can voluntarily reduce emissions without affecting their own sustainable development, provided that they receive additional technical and financial assistance from developed countries. China is a developing country, and under the premise of controlling greenhouse gas emissions in response to climate change, China has also won the space for development.
Times have passed, and in the 1990s some people in China suspected that climate change was an imperialist conspiracy, and now former US President Trump says it is a conspiracy imposed by China on the United States. In fact, from the beginning to the present, the response to climate change has been a goal - to achieve sustainable development of mankind. This is the same as our judgment of the international situation, there are always some people who think that "imperialism will not die of death", but in fact, everyone has forgotten the basic judgment of the Party Central Committee on the international situation -- peace and development is the main theme of the world.
After so many years of climate change negotiations, China has also developed for decades, the West has not blocked the development of developing countries, let alone stopped the development of China, we are now fully well-off, in 2035 to achieve initial modernization, in the middle of this century to achieve comprehensive modernization. In the past, the climate change negotiations fought for the development of our country, and now we are working with all of us to achieve carbon neutrality.
From this perspective, the process of negotiating climate change is a process of international cooperation and a process of deepening our understanding of development issues. On the one hand, we need to deeply understand the complexity, multifacetedness and diversity of the problem of climate change, and at the same time, we must not forget the "original intention" of addressing the problem of climate change, which is to make the earth a better place and protect our common home. No matter how different the ideology is, no matter how different the social system is, no matter which country or which government wants the people's lives to be better, it is necessary to protect the common home of mankind on the earth, and mankind has only one common future, which is gradually becoming a consensus, which is also the biggest result of the discussion on addressing climate change. Therefore, for China, there is only one purpose to achieve carbon neutrality, that is, to work with all countries in the world to protect the earth's homeland, create a common future for mankind, and make the lives of all mankind, including the Chinese nation, better.
(Yu Baoyuan, Deputy Director of the Special Topics Department of this journal, also contributed to this article)
【Environmental Encyclopedia】
National Center for Strategic Research and International Cooperation on Climate Change
The National Center for Climate Change Strategy Research and International Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as the "Center") is a department-level institution directly under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and is also a national strategic research institution and international cooperation and exchange window for China's response to climate change.
The responsibilities of the center include organizing research on policies, regulations, strategies and planning to deal with climate change; undertaking technical support work on domestic implementation, statistical accounting and assessment, carbon emission trading management, international negotiations, foreign cooperation and exchanges; carrying out dialogue, publicity, capacity building and consulting services for think tanks on climate change; undertaking the management of clean development mechanism projects; and undertaking other matters assigned by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Pictured| Li Junfeng
【Environmental Character】
Li Junfeng
He was the first director of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy Research and International Cooperation, the director of the Academic Committee, the executive director of the China Energy Research Association, and the winner of the 9th Zayed Future Energy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mr. Li Junfeng graduated from Shandong Institute of Mining and Technology (now Shandong University of Science and Technology), has long been engaged in the research of energy economy and energy environment theory, has organized and presided over the drafting of China's renewable energy law and national medium- and long-term energy plan, and participated in the research and drafting of important documents such as the national medium- and long-term scientific and technological development outline, the draft energy law, and the national climate change plan. He has organized major national development strategy research projects such as research on China's energy development strategy and macro-strategy for China's low-carbon development.
Mr. Li Junfeng was the first director of the National Center for Strategic Research and International Cooperation on Climate Change and is now the director of the Academic Committee of the Center. In January 2017, he was awarded the 9th Zayed Future Energy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, he also serves as a member of the National Energy Advisory Committee, a member of the National High-tech Expert Committee, a member of the National Eco-environmental Protection Expert Committee, a member of the Energy Internet Expert Committee of the National Energy Administration, and a low-carbon development consultant of the people's governments of Beijing, Shanghai and Shanxi Provinces, and also serves as a part-time professor and doctoral supervisor of Chinese Min University.
At present, Mr. Li Junfeng also serves as the executive director of the China Energy Research Association. From 2011 to 2016, Mr. Li served as the director of the National Center for Strategic Research and International Cooperation on Climate Change. From 1982 to 2011, Mr. Li Junfeng worked at the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, successively serving as assistant researcher, associate researcher and researcher, assistant director, deputy director and director of the academic committee.
His major publications include "Research on China's Low-Carbon Energy Strategy", "Research on Climate Strategy Issues", "Construction of Ecological Civilization and Energy Revolution", "Research on China's Greenhouse Gas Emission Control", "Evaluation of China's Renewable Energy Technology", "Wind Power-12 in China", "Interpretation of the Renewable Energy Law of the People's Republic of China", "Analysis of China's Photovoltaic Power Generation Technology Market", "Research on China's Renewable Energy Development Strategy", etc. As one of the lead authors, he also participated in the preparation of the IPCC's first to fourth assessment reports.