BEIJING—(ENEWSPF)–June 30, 2015 – China announced today a new long-term commitment to reduce its carbon intensity by 60-65 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. As the world’s largest carbon emitter and renewable energy market, this post-2020 climate commitment is intended to solidify China’s engagement at the Paris climate conference this December.
This commitment comes on the heels of the joint US-China climate announcement last November, in which China committed to peaking its carbon emissions by 2030 or earlier while increasing clean energy to 20 percent of total energy consumption by 2030. This also builds on China’s 40-45 percent carbon intensity reduction target for 2020 and its efforts develop a national carbon cap and trade program by 2017.
Following is a statement by Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council:
“China’s climate commitment sets it on a clear path to transition away from heavily polluting coal to cleaner and sustainable energy sources like wind and solar. This transition to clean energy will also lead to cleaner air and improved health for its citizens. Today’s news sets the stage for the development of a strong international climate treaty later this year.”
Following is a statement by Fuqiang Yang, Energy, Environment and Climate Change senior advisor for the Natural Resources Defense Council:
“China’s climate targets signal its commitment to deepening the energy efficiency and clean energy efforts it began a decade ago, which have resulted in China becoming the largest wind power country in the world and being on track to pass Germany this year as the largest solar PV country in the world. China should establish a strong national coal cap in the next Five Year Plan to peak its coal consumption before 2020 and enable a swifter transition to a clean energy future.”
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.
Source: www.nrdc.org
