China's climate blueprint: How national action drives global carbon goals

Editor's note: As the annual Two Sessions commences, CGTN's Visionary Voices launches the "Global Think Tanks Unpack China Agenda 2025" series. Authored by experts from think tanks worldwide, these articles offer cutting-edge analysis of China's advancements in fields spanning economy, technology, rural revitalization and cultural innovation. Each piece demystifies China's growth trajectory while illuminating its global significance. The sixth article explores China's green transformation. Yasiru Ranaraja, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a researcher on maritime affairs and expert on Belt and Road Initiative development. He is also the founding director of the Belt Road Initiative Sri Lanka (BRISL), an international development organization and think tank in Sri Lanka. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Anthropogenic climate change is perhaps one of the world's most challenging concerns, and its implications have already been universally accepted by governments and scientific establishments alike. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognizes the impact of climate change as a common concern of humanity, and all member nations are committed to implementing policies that promote low-carbon development in their respective countries. Internationally, the Paris Agreement is the single most important worldwide legal structure in the struggle to tackle climate change. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol's top-down emission reduction binding objectives, the Paris Agreement has a more flexible way with which states can engage on ambitious yet sensible climate targets by taking into consideration their unique domestic economic context.

China is one of the countries that has capitalized on this flexibility, enabling the country to embark on an ambitious, realistic, carbon-neutral trajectory. At the center of the international legal system is the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" (CBDR), which recognizes that while climate change is a global concern, the responsibility to tackle it is differentiated according to the capacities and historical emissions of each country. This principle calls on developed nations to take leadership in the initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as they are responsible for having emitted a large number of greenhouse gases in the past to develop their economies, while developing nations, such as China, have the right to develop and gradually transition towards a low-carbon economy.

Over the years, as many developing nations struggled to navigate economic development while reducing carbon emissions, China's response to combating climate change and its reaction to global sustainability calls have become increasingly pronounced.

One of the central elements influencing China's climate policy is the domestic-international dual circulation approach which seeks to balance domestic economic development with deeper global integration. It emphasizes domestic economic development, through innovation, domestic demand, and continuous international interaction, including trade, investment, and technology exchange. This two-way approach allows China to guarantee economic stability while contributing to global sustainability by sharing green technologies, investments, and active participation in international climate governance.

In addition, the "dual carbon" goal announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2020 has further redirected China's development agenda toward a sustainable pathway by committing to peaking its carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, as a part of China's broader shift from more rigid, top-down regulatory traditions towards more adaptive, innovative climate governance arrangements. 

As a developing country, China increasingly embraces the CBDR approach that is compatible with its climate goals, balancing its developmental needs and global responsibilities which also led China as a dominant stakeholder of the green energy transition through the growing leadership it exerts on the renewable energy technologies. For example, China today is the world's largest producer of solar panels and wind turbines, making clean energy supplies an increasing proportion of its energy consumption.

As 2025 marks the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), the National People's Congress (NPC) sessions pave the way for the next five-year plan, further bolstering China's climate policy and budgetary decisions taken during the NPC sessions are set to be instrumental in scaling up green technologies and easing the green transition.

Additionally, the 15th Five-Year Plan will lay out long-term visions for achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, focusing on green development, such as the development of renewable energy resources, green technologies, and innovation in sectors like energy, technology and infrastructure. In realizing high-quality development, China will balance the need for sustainable, low-carbon development with economic growth including in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum computing advancements which can play an important role in reducing the world's carbon footprint, both through China's environmentally friendly industrial practices and through being capable of empowering innovations that the world can share, serving China's role as a guide in sustained leadership of international climate governance.

China's dynamic response, combining innovative policies with massive investments in green technology, demonstrates that ambitious action on climate is both necessary and possible. China's response, guided by the principles of CBDR, not only works in its climate interests but is also a model for other developing nations struggling to achieve their climate goals.

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