Li Gao, the head of China’s climate change department (DCC) under the Ministry of Environment and Ecology (MEE), issued the first official response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 1.5 degrees special report at a press conference. According to MEE’s Weibo account, Li Gao said that the report findings demonstrate the urgency of taking action on climate change. He said that keeping temperature to 2 or 1.5 degrees Celsius would be challenging and that more effective action is needed on mitigation, finance, technological innovation and other fronts. In particular, more research is needed on the costs and the most cost-effective actions. Meanwhile, he remarked that China will continue striving to meet its Paris Agreement goal to peak emissions at or before 2030. He added that China contributed to global climate action by lowering the cost of renewables, and the recently apparent plateauing of emissions was a major achievement. Read more
China establishes assessment system for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets
Jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, this policy “Measures on Comprehensive Evaluation and Assessment for Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality”, establishes a formal assessment system for evaluating how provincial-level Party committees and governments implement China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality objectives.
The assessment work is coordinated centrally and implemented by the National Development and Reform Commission together with relevant departments. It applies to provincial-level Party committees and governments, including provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.