2021 Volume 21 Pages 45-63
On September 22, 2020, Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, at the general debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, made a statement with the commitment that China “aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060”. On December 12 of the same year, at the Climate Ambition Summit, President Xi announced further commitments for 2030 (2030 tareet) that are to “lower the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65 percent from the 2005 level; to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 percent; and, to bring its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1.2 billion kilowatts”. The Chinese government abbreviates above 2030 and 2060 targets as the “3060 targets” and has been applying domestic policies accordingly. The purpose of this paper is to clarify: 1) The background of the development of the decarbonization strategy with the 3060 targets; 2) Its strategic thinking; and, 3) The challenges as well for achieving the 2060 carbon neutrality.
