China is "not ambitious enough" to deal with climate change? Wang Wenbin: China will complete the world's highest carbon emission intensity reduction

According to the WeChat public account "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Office", at the foreign ministry's regular press conference on November 1, an Agence France-Presse reporter asked: Some commentators said that China's ambition and contribution to global climate change are not enough. What is China's comment on this? Will China propose specific emission reduction measures at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change?

Wang Wenbin: As I just said, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Rome, putting forward China's proposals and initiatives on caring for the earth's homeland and promoting the construction of a community of human and natural life. These important proposals of President Xi Jinping also point out the key to the success of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and strongly promote the efforts of the international community to jointly address climate change.

I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce China's strong measures and practical contributions to addressing climate change. China is an activist in climate governance, taking the initiative to assume international responsibilities in line with national conditions, and constantly pressuring itself to increase its efforts to address climate change. Since September last year, President Xi Jinping has successively announced the vision of China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, and put forward a series of nationally determined contribution targets and specific policy measures, involving domestic coal power, coal consumption, and no new overseas coal power projects, demonstrating China's firm determination to deal with climate change. Recently, China has also issued the Opinions on The Complete, Accurate and Comprehensive Implementation of the New Development Concept to Achieve Carbon Neutrality, the Carbon Peak Action Plan by 2030 and the White Paper on China's Policies and Actions to Address Climate Change, and formally submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change the "New Measures for China's Implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions and New Targets" and "China's Long-term Greenhouse Gas Low Emission Development Strategy in the Middle of this Century". These are all concrete measures taken by China to implement the Paris Agreement, reflecting China's responsibility and latest contribution to addressing climate change.

As for your mention of the magnitude of China's contribution to this issue, I can give you a set of figures for comparison. From carbon peaking to carbon neutrality in developed countries, the EUROPEAN Union will take 71 years, the United States will use 43 years, Japan will use 37 years, while China will only set itself 30 years, and the time used by the EU, the United States and Japan will be 2.4 times, 1.4 times and 1.2 times that of China, respectively. As the world's largest developing country, China will complete the world's highest carbon emission intensity reduction, and achieve carbon peaking to carbon neutrality in the shortest time in global history. This requires China to make painstaking efforts, which fully reflects China's great power responsibility on this issue.

I would also like to point out that scientific research shows that global warming is the result of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, and developed countries have been emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in the past 200 years of industrialization, and have an unshirkable historical responsibility for global climate change. For example, the U.S. has historically accumulated emissions eight times that of China. Historically, the United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and withdraw from the Paris Agreement, seriously undermining the confidence and effectiveness of global cooperation in addressing climate change. At present, climate change poses severe challenges to the survival and development of mankind, which requires the joint efforts of all countries to cope. Developed countries, including the United States, should earnestly follow the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, face up to their historical responsibilities, show greater ambition and action, take the lead in undertaking substantial emission reduction obligations, and at the same time effectively help developing countries improve their ability to cope with climate challenges in terms of funds, technology, and capacity building.