China has made big commitments on emission cuts, but is facing energy cuts for the moment. Will it work out?
SHARE:
Can China meet its "net zero by 2060" commitment
- Hint from the top: Two speeches from China’s top leaders provide an insight into the path China will take to cut the world’s biggest source of planet-warming emissions. President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang painted a portrait of a country that plans to put national security — including from energy shortages — and development first, even as it pursues a green transition. China will put huge investments into its world-leading renewable energy sector, while also continuing to support polluting fossil fuels that provide the bulk of its energy.
- Transition not easy for anyone: Every economy trying to reach net-zero faces the challenge of maintaining energy security while moving away from dirty fuels, though China is under more pressure to move quickly.
- It is the world’s second-biggest economy and largest emitter, and no solution to climate change will work without it.
- It still considers itself a developing nation trying to lift more citizens into relative prosperity, the same position countries like the U.K. and U.S. were in, a century ago, when profligate pollution wasn’t a geopolitical issue.
- China’s dilemma has been thrown into sharp focus by a global energy crunch that risks slowing growth and creating social unrest.
- Realising the threat: Mr Li has warned that China's green transition needs to be balanced by a stable supply of energy. He now wants an assessment of the recent power crunch before setting any short-term targets for reaching peak emissions. Production of coal, natural gas and oil are still important.
- UN Summit: At the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, Xi Jinping said environmental goals have to be both “ambitious” and “pragmatic.” He announced that China had started construction on a giant renewable energy project in the country’s vast deserts that’s bigger than all the wind and solar power in India. This is part of its plan to reach net-zero by 2060.
- No dumping the renewables: Experts feel short-term boosts of coal and coal-power production don’t necessarily contradict the country's long-term decarbonization goals. Top leaders' public support for renewables after widespread power cuts at least shows that they believe the growth in clean energy will help energy security.
- But the energy crisis may constrain China’s ability to make new commitments at high-stakes international climate talks known as COP26 that kick off in Glasgow, Scotland, in October. A major goal is to agree on a deadline to phase out coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.
- China mines and burns half the world’s supply, and is pushing its producers to boost output to ease power shortages. It has also allowed coal power prices to rise by as much as 20%, double the current limit, a dramatic intervention in a market that China had sought to keep stable in order to ensure predictable costs for industrial users.
- What about other countries: Even as governments remain focused on securing coal and gas for the winter, the global energy crisis is in some places accelerating the longer-term transition to cleaner and less volatile sources of power generation. In Spain, authorities have plans to support 3.3 gigawatts of new solar and wind energy. The U.K. is aiming to phase out fossil fueled electricity by 2035 by relying in part on nuclear. China is no exception. Construction has started on the first phase of a project to add 100 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity. A likely location is western China, where existing and planned power lines can link renewables projects to megacities in the east.
- The key man: Han Zheng, one of China’s seven most powerful leaders who’s in charge of implementing Xi’s net-zero goal, serves as vice chair. His presence indicates that the road map for cutting emissions would take into account concerns about energy security and the impact of rising energy prices on the public, especially poorer citizens. Xi wants to leverage cooperation on tackling global warming to counter pushback from the West over everything from trade to the coronavirus and human rights. The energy crisis made all major climate moves very complicated. China will come under pressure to end domestic coal use.
- Other promises: At the Kunming conference, Xi pledged to establish a biodiversity fund with an initial investment of 1.5 billion yuan ($232 million). Environmentalists expressed disappointment that he didn’t announce more ambitious conservation targets to help member countries work toward goals including to protect 30% of world’s lands and oceans by 2030.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) What are the challenges all countries face in making the green transition? Explain. (2) In ways it the COP-26 important for the world? Explain. (3) "Energy from dirty fuels versus from renewables" will define governance's trajectory in the present decade. Do you agree? Why, or why not?
#energytransition #China #COP26
* Content sourced from free internet sources (publications, PIB site, international sites, etc.). Take your own subscriptions. Copyrights acknowledged.
COMMENTS