China pledge ushers in a “new era for climate politics” – Christian Aid

The chances of a successful global climate agreement received a major boost today as China submitted ambitious plans to cut its emissions, said Christian Aid.

By committing to peak its emissions by around 2030, increase it’s already growing renewable energy capacity to 20 per cent by the same date and reduce its carbon intensity by up to 65 per cent, China joins the wave of countries outlining their climate pledges ahead of December’s UN summit in Paris.

Christian Aid’s Senior Climate Change Advisor, Mohamed Adow, said “this is a huge step forward. China’s actions show just what a new political landscape we are now in”.

China and the USA were criticized for holding back progress back in 2009 before the failed talks in Copenhagen.

“Now China is leading the way. It shows that China is starting to do its bit. This is a new era for climate politics,” stated Mr. Adow.

The Paris agreement will be made up of the national pledges as in the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). With China’s now on the table we have more than half of the world’s emissions covered.

“By cutting its carbon intensity by 60-65 per cent by 2030 is getting close to the sort of commitments we will need to keep global temperature rises to below 2 degrees,” said Mr. Adow. “Its commitment to scaling up renewables to 20 per cent of total output is particularly encouraging. It will soon deploy nearly as much renewable power alone as the total US energy sector. It’s a game changer.

China’s pledge marks a significant shift away from a fossil fuel intensive development path to one focused on renewables on a scale the world has never yet seen.

“With developing countries like China moving in a bold direction towards a low carbon future, developed countries should be willing to do the same if they want to reap the benefits of being in the vanguard of the transition to new, cleaner, energy sources. As well as reducing their fossil fuel dependence, rich countries should also help the poorest countries tap into their own renewable power potential, leapfrogging dirty energy like coal and reducing global emissions in the process.”