COP26 only wrapped up a month ago.
From the South China Morning Post, December 13:
Caution on carbon as ‘China realises key role of coal’ in energy mix
- Targets come with no guarantees and should not affect development, former officials say
- Awareness has grown of just how difficult it will be for the country to make the shift away from the fossil fuel, analysts say
Serving and former Chinese senior officials have urged caution on the path towards carbon neutrality, echoing the leadership’s assessment that climate targets “can’t be achieved in just one battle”.
Addressing a forum in Beijing on Saturday, former finance minister Lou Jiwei said that while China had said it would “strive to” reach peak carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, there was a difference between this and “ensuring [those targets would be achieved]”.
“We are a developing country. We should bear common but differentiated responsibilities that are different from developed countries,” Lou told the gathering organised by the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges.
Han Wenxiu, from the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, was similarly cautious, saying the two targets were complex and long-term tasks that required full consideration of the country’s energy and industrial structure.
“[The carbon targets] should not affect the country’s overall economic and social development,” Han said.
Lou and Han’s comments came a day after top Chinese top leaders stressed at a key annual economic meeting the need for a safe and sustainable energy transition.
Top economic policymakers led by President Xi Jinping and the Politburo, met during the week for the central economic work conference to review Beijing’s economic work over the last year and to set the tone for the country’s path in the year ahead.
In a statement released on Friday, the officials said: “Achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals … requires unwavering efforts but it can’t be achieved in just one battle.”
According to the statement, fossil fuels should be phased out “based on” safe and reliable alternative sources of energy. China should also make clean and efficient use of coal, given the fuel’s dominant role in the country’s power generation and consumption, it said.
Zhang Xiaoqiang, a former senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission, underlined the role of coal on Saturday, saying that even if China reached its carbon peak in 2030, thermal power generation would still be 60 per cent of the total....
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The National Development and
Reform Commission is one of the most powerful bodies in China and what they say goes. And no former senior official would dare express an opinion contrary to the official position. The NDRC really is the big time.
