Original title: Focus Interview丨Build consensus to build a clean home for mankind
Loading...
On December 13, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was the largest climate change conference ever, bringing together to discuss how to tackle the growing climate crisis. After nearly half a month of intensive negotiations and an extra day, the conference reached the "UAE Consensus" on a number of issues such as the first global stocktake of the Paris Agreement and a just transition. What is the historic significance of this conference? What aspects of the consensus are included, and what concrete actions has China taken to address climate change, and what kind of wisdom has it contributed?
According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2023 is likely to be the hottest year on record. The global average temperature is 1.4°C above the pre-industrial baseline. The Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) noted that the UN Climate Change Conference was a decisive moment for meeting climate commitments and preventing the worst impacts of climate change. According to the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, the global average temperature should be kept as high as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992, and since 1995, the annual Conference of the Parties has become the only international mechanism that allows almost all countries in the world to participate in controlling greenhouse gas emissions. The conference will take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the Paris Agreement for the first time and jointly formulate the next action plan, which will focus on the energy transition and financing.
Simon Steele, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Secretariat: If we don't follow our perceptions and signal the end of the fossil fuel era, we will come to an end for ourselves.
Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Envoy for Climate Change: The energy transition is very important, and this transition requires a painful process, because the national conditions of each country are different, the energy structure of each country is different, and the resource endowment of each country is different.
Chang Jiwen, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy of the Development Research Center of the State Council: There must be a gap in this inventory. Developed countries have better economic infrastructure and should take the lead in reducing emissions significantly, but some developed countries have not done this, and the pressure on the economic development of developing countries in recent years has been great, especially the impact of the epidemic, so the green and low-carbon transition is facing some difficulties.
After more than 10 days of more than 10 rounds of discussions, 198 parties finally completed the first global inventory of the Paris Agreement and reached a landmark document - the "UAE Consensus". The document aims to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, tripling renewable energy by 2030, and more.
Zhao Yingmin, Head of the Chinese Delegation and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment: The outcome of the conference is in line with China's proposal to promote ecological civilization and promote green and low-carbon transformation.
President Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that the earth is a big family and mankind is a community. Protecting the ecological environment and responding to climate change are common challenges facing all mankind. To this end, China has been contributing wisdom and solutions with practical actions. China played a key role in the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, and the consensus reached at this conference is also inseparable from China's contributions.
Chang Jiwen, Deputy Director and Researcher, Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy, Development Research Center of the State Council: Prior to COP28, the Chinese and US Special Envoys on Climate Change met twice and issued a statement on the Sunshine Country of China and the United States in response to climate change. In November, the heads of state of China and the United States met in San Francisco and established the Enhanced Working Group on Climate Change, laying a solid foundation for the success of COP28.
As a developing country with a large population and facing the historic task of building modernization, China has been actively fulfilling its obligations under the Paris Agreement from a broader perspective, coordinating development and carbon reduction, and has made remarkable achievements. According to statistics, in 2022, the country's carbon dioxide emission intensity will drop by more than 51% compared with 2005, and nearly 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide will be emitted less in the past decade.
In order to share the practical experience of carbon reduction with the world, China has set up a special China corner at almost every conference. In this China Corner, representatives from Inner Mongolia shared their stories of "planting the sun" in the desert. In the hinterland of the Kubuqi Desert, a photovoltaic power generation base covering an area of 100,000 mu and an installed capacity of 2 million kilowatts has been set up, which has been connected to the grid for power generation on December 2 this year.
Although a major coal province like Inner Mongolia has an important task of ensuring supply, in order to reduce carbon emissions and promote the green transformation of the energy structure, the state has invested heavily in the development of renewable energy in such areas in recent years. The Kubuqi Desert is plagued by wind and sand all year round, but the light is very abundant, and the combination of the use of light resources and the management of the desert can form a virtuous circle of structural adjustment and development, but the implementation of this idea is very difficult.
In the construction in the desert, the first difficulty faced is that there is no road, no water, no electricity, and the operating equipment cannot enter, so you can only rely on manpower to level the sand and install photovoltaic panels. The Kubuqi Desert is full of mobile sand dunes, and if the desert is not fixed, it will not be long before the photovoltaic panels will be buried in the sand, and the sand will be further fixed by planting crops.
He Pengfei, head of photovoltaic sand control in Yili Kubuqi, Inner Mongolia: Later, I slowly found a medicinal crop like licorice, which can not only prevent wind and fix sand, but also have some economic benefits to make up for the company's investment.
After six years of technical research, the company has made photovoltaic panels higher and generated more electricity, and the utilization rate under the board has also increased from 40% to 80%. On the other side of the Kubuqi desert, a larger PV project with a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts is also under construction.
Gong Mingzhu, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: Coordinate development and security, supply guarantee and transformation, adhere to the simultaneous development of coal, electricity, oil, gas, wind and solar, and gradually build an energy supply system with new energy as the main body.
According to statistics, by the end of October 2023, the installed capacity of renewable energy power generation in China exceeded 1.4 billion kilowatts, accounting for nearly 50% of the country's total installed power generation capacity. While promoting the green transformation of its own energy structure, China is also contributing to the world.
In addition to vigorously promoting the green transformation of the energy structure, as a major manufacturing country, in order to further implement carbon reduction goals and promote high-quality development, China has achieved remarkable results in climate action in key industries with carbon emissions. In recent years, there have been many cases of green transformation of energy-intensive industries, and such cases have also been brought to the corner of China.
At a side event on the theme of "Green and Low-Carbon Development Practices", representatives from Chinese steel companies shared their stories of technological innovation.
Zhu Ping, Vice President of Nanjing Iron and Steel Co., Ltd.: Nanjing Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. is a steel enterprise mainly engaged in the production of special steel, and since the "13th Five-Year Plan", it has invested more than 10 billion yuan in funds, and the whole process has passed the ultra-low emission transformation.
Nanjing Iron and Steel is a large state-owned enterprise established for decades, and the park is now a national 3A-level scenic spot. Like many of China's steel companies, they have experienced pains in their green transition. In addition to investing a lot of money, how to make breakthroughs in technology is a pain point for the entire industry to reduce emissions.
Niu Ben, Director of the Environmental Management Office of the Safety and Environmental Protection Department of Nanjing Iron and Steel Co., Ltd.: The biggest problem encountered in the transformation process is how to choose an efficient, stable, reliable and long-term technical solution, because China's ultra-low emission standards should be the most stringent in the world, and many technologies are also tried and used for the first time, just like the first person to eat crabs.
Through a large number of repeated demonstration experiments, the company finally realized the ultra-low emission technological transformation, and the pollutant emissions were greatly reduced, and the sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter per ton of steel were reduced by 60%, 75%, and 90% respectively.
Chang Jiwen, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy of the Development Research Center of the State Council: Through the carbon inclusive system, people are encouraged to choose a green and low-carbon lifestyle. Our country's carbon emission reduction is all-round, including energy carbon reduction, as well as industry, agriculture, transportation, construction, social life and other fields, our country has taken very strong measures, and the effect is also very obvious.
In response to global climate change, developing countries have made efforts, and developed countries must shoulder more responsibilities. According to the agreement, developed countries are required to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries by 2020, but this figure has not been achieved.
Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Envoy for Climate Change: Now, we are talking about 100 billion US dollars in financial support, mainly for developing countries, and only after the cake is bigger, can we consider giving this money to the most environmentally vulnerable countries, small island states, least developed countries, and the African Group.
Chang Jiwen, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy of the Development Research Center of the State Council: In terms of financial and technical assistance, developed countries have done far from enough. In the next step, developed countries should take the lead in increasing energy conservation and carbon reduction, and increase financial assistance and technology transfer to developing countries in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Paris Agreement.
The conference highlighted the international community's sense of urgency and growing consensus on climate change, and while summarizing achievements and gaps, it also opened a new chapter in the global climate process and further consolidated the global irreversible trend of green and low-carbon transformation. President Xi Jinping once quoted an old Chinese saying: "Rule with reality" and called on all parties to strengthen actions and work together to deal with it. In the face of such a real, serious and long-term challenge to the destiny of mankind, no country can remain out of it. Only by keeping promises and taking pragmatic actions can the vision become a reality. Only by working together and helping each other can we protect our common home on earth.
Editor丨Wang Taoran, Yang Yuan, Wei Ran, Zhang Yuchen, Li Xiao
Camera丨Fu Peng, Zhang Yu, Yao Shubo, Liu Chao, Li Yang, Li Jialun
Editing丨Zheng Yu
Source: CCTV news client