Focus on enhancing China's international influence and voice in the field of "dual carbon".
"Western countries like to say that China's carbon emissions account for nearly 1/3 of the world", "China is relatively passive on the topic of 'dual carbon'", "In fact, China's new energy industry contributes more than half of the world's total", "It is very important for China to gradually control the international discourse on the development of 'dual carbon'"... This is the voice that this reporter heard in a recent interview. Industry experts have suggested that in the process of actively implementing the "double carbon" goal, China cannot simply follow up, and it is urgent to continuously improve the international influence and discourse power in the field of "double carbon".
In the eyes of industry experts, China is an absolute "top student" in the zero-carbon transformation and development of the energy industry, but China's tremendous efforts and contributions have been deliberately ignored or even smeared by individual countries and organizations. In the next step, in the process of climate negotiations, China needs to continue to demonstrate China's efforts in the process of carbon emission reduction, so that the world can see our achievements.
A new path of rapid carbon neutrality is needed
Wu Yin, academic advisor to the China Energy Research Society and former deputy director of the National Energy Administration, said that global energy activities account for 68% of total carbon emissions, and China's energy activities account for more than 86% of carbon emissions in China. Due to the high proportion of coal consumption in China, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are still on the rise, and it is difficult to achieve the "dual carbon" goal. "It takes 40-70 years for developed countries to reach carbon neutrality from carbon peak, which is a natural carbon peak and slow carbon neutrality. We only have 30 years to take a new path of man-made carbon peak and rapid carbon neutrality. ”
In the eyes of industry insiders, the biggest difference between China and Western developed countries in terms of carbon reduction is that the majority of China's carbon reduction is in the industrial field, while the western developed countries are in the fields of industry, agriculture and life. This is mainly because China is the "world's factory", and the output of industrial products such as coal, steel, cement, and household appliances exceeds half of the world's total output, and China's industry not only serves its own country, but also serves the world.
As we all know, developed countries have completed the construction of basic industrialization, have long passed the peak period of carbon emissions, and are currently in the channel of declining carbon emissions, while the carbon emissions of China and most developing countries are showing an upward trend. In particular, it should be noted that the International Energy Agency recently adjusted the assessment results of carbon emission reduction to that developed countries must achieve carbon neutrality by 5 years to 2045, and China must achieve carbon neutrality by 10 years to 2050 ahead of schedule, which undoubtedly increases the pressure on China's emission reduction.
Our country's leading achievements have been ignored
This year is a critical period to take stock of the progress of global carbon neutrality. COP28, to be held in early November, will be the first global stocktake of the implementation of the Paris Agreement, identifying gaps between actions and targets.
"The framework and approach of the United Nations global carbon emission inventory are: to limit warming to 1.5°C and take stock of the global emission reduction gap. However, many factors affecting carbon neutrality, such as the capacity, output, installed capacity, power generation, energy storage, and terminal zero-carbon consumption equipment of zero-carbon energy production equipment, have not been included in the inventory accounting system. Pan Jiahua, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and vice chairman of the National Climate Change Expert Committee, said, "This inventory-taking system dominated by developed countries magnifies China's responsibility to reduce emissions and ignores China's leading achievements in zero-carbon development." ”
Pan Jiahua said that for the global inventory under the Paris Agreement, China cannot simply follow up and passively take precautions, but needs to uphold the dual morality of development and climate, justifiably demonstrate China's actions and achievements in wind and solar new energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles, and oppose various statements by developed countries that violate climate morality such as "supply chain security". Looking at the scale, speed and trend of the world's zero-carbon transition, there is no problem with China's implementation of the "dual carbon" goal, and China's zero-carbon end-use energy industry is the largest, fastest-growing and most competitive in the world, and this trend will be strengthened.
It is important to elevate the international discourse
Today, major countries have set carbon neutrality timetables, and carbon neutrality has not only formed a global political consensus, but also become a moral high ground. China has always been an active participant in the fight against climate change, and will not join and withdraw like the United States.
Wu Yin said that China is a doer of climate governance, taking the initiative to assume international responsibilities in line with national conditions, and continuously improving the intensity of action on climate change. However, in the face of the acceleration of the global low-carbon development process, we must plan early and enhance the initiative to address climate change. To this end, China must dig deep into the potential of energy conservation, on the basis of continuing to do a good job in structural energy conservation and technical energy conservation, refine management and strengthen cultural energy conservation. "It is recommended to reverse the current pattern that the energy management department only focuses on supply and does not pay much attention to consumption, and makes it clear that the energy management department is responsible for the management of the whole energy system and the whole process. ”
Zhou Yuan, global partner and managing director of Boston Consulting Group, suggested that China's important goal in the future is how to expand its international influence in the field of "dual carbon". One of the important factors in the implementation of carbon tariffs in the EU is the mastery of carbon standards. Because the carbon tariff must use the EU standard, a big bottleneck for enterprises in "going out" is that the infrastructure is all European standards, which will undoubtedly increase the cost of products. Taking new energy as an example, China's new energy industry is the largest in the world, but the international standards in the field of new energy are still dominated by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the United States. Therefore, it is very important to enhance the international discourse power and reduce the cost of production and design.
