The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) continues to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of production methods and lifestyles

On August 15, 2023, the first main event of the National Ecology Day was held in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, with the theme of "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets".

"Build a '1+N' policy system for carbon peak and carbon neutrality", "The installed capacity of renewable energy in the country has exceeded 1.3 billion kilowatts, historically surpassing coal power", "Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, more than 100 million mu of land greening has been completed"... At the press conference on the important achievements of ecological civilization at the main event of the National Ecology Day, the National Development and Reform Commission released the important achievements of the third anniversary of the major declaration of carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

In September 2020, President Xi Jinping made a major declaration of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Over the past three years, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and various regions and departments have coordinated efforts to promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth, and achieved a good start and positive results in promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Liu Dechun, director of the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in an interview with a reporter from China Environment News a few days ago that he will actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality, continue to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of production methods and lifestyles, and accelerate the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

There is a plan to implement the carbon peak action step by step

"Carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is a broad and profound economic and social systemic change, and a systematic project with multiple goals and constraints. Liu Dechun said.

As the largest developing country in the world, China will take about 30 years to complete the world's highest carbon emission intensity reduction, and use the shortest time in the world's history to achieve carbon peak to carbon neutrality, the difficulty can be imagined.

In May 2021, the Leading Group for Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality was established, and the National Development and Reform Commission assumed the responsibilities of the Office of the Leading Group for Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality.

At the first plenary meeting of the leading group for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, "closely following the target decomposition task and strengthening the top-level design" was clearly proposed.

Since then, in 2021, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality" and the "Action Plan for Carbon Peak Before 2030" have been released one after another, which together constitute the top-level design that runs through the two stages of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality work has a timetable, roadmap and construction drawings.

Emission reduction is not to reduce productivity or emissions, but to follow a high-quality development path that prioritizes ecology and is green and low-carbon. The National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection proposed that it is necessary to actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

In Liu Dechun's view, it is necessary to deal with the relationship between development and emission reduction, carbon reduction and security, breaking and standing, overall and partial, short-term and medium-term and long-term, government and market, domestic and international, etc., based on the actual national conditions, adhere to the principle of establishing first and then breaking, stabilize the stock, and expand the increment.

刘德春表示，2020年，我国二氧化碳排放强度比2005年下降48.4%，超额完成第一阶段国家自主贡献承诺。在此基础上，“十四五”前两年，我国二氧化碳排放强度进一步下降4.6%，节能降碳成效显著。国家发展改革委将认真履行“双碳”协调职责，There is a plan to implement the carbon peak action step by step，构建清洁低碳安全高效的能源体系。

-- Earnestly strengthen the overall planning of work. Conscientiously fulfill the coordination responsibilities related to "dual carbon", and do a good job in the overall coordination of major issues such as cross-regional, cross-departmental, domestic and international. Promote the gradual shift from dual control of energy consumption to dual control of carbon emissions, consolidate the foundation of statistical accounting, regulatory standards and other work, and establish a comprehensive evaluation and assessment system for carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Organize all regions and relevant departments to solidly promote the "Ten Actions for Carbon Peaking".

– Building a new energy system. Based on the basic national conditions of coal-based, we have vigorously promoted the clean and efficient use of coal, and completed the energy-saving and carbon-reduction transformation, flexibility transformation and heating transformation of coal-fired power units by more than 485 million kilowatts. Vigorously develop non-fossil energy, plan and build large-scale wind power and photovoltaic bases in deserts, Gobi and desert areas, develop hydropower according to local conditions, actively develop nuclear power in a safe and orderly manner, and the installed capacity of renewable energy in the country has exceeded 1.3 billion kilowatts, historically surpassing coal power. Deepen the reform of the power system, strengthen demand-side management, improve comprehensive regulation capabilities, and accelerate the construction of a new power system.

– Promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the industrial structure. Resolutely curb the blind development of high-energy-consumption, high-emission, and low-level projects, and withdraw more than 150 million tons of excess steel production capacity. Gradually improve energy consumption and carbon emission standards, and guide enterprises to implement energy-saving and carbon-reduction transformation. Vigorously develop green and low-carbon industries, and the export value of the "new three" products represented by solar cells, lithium batteries and electric manned vehicles has maintained double-digit growth for 14 consecutive quarters, with an increase of 61.6% in the first half of this year, driving the overall growth of exports by 1.8 percentage points, becoming a new driving force for foreign trade growth. Promote the deep integration of emerging technologies and green and low-carbon industries, and effectively promote the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure from high-carbon to low-carbon, from low-end to high-end.

– Steadily improving ecosystem carbon sinks. Optimize the strategic pattern of the main functional zones and complete the delineation of ecological protection red lines. Solid progress has been made in major projects for the protection and restoration of ecosystems in important areas, and large-scale land greening actions have been scientifically carried out, and more than 100 million mu of land greening has been completed since the 14th Five-Year Plan. China's forest coverage rate is 24.02%, and the forest stock is 19.493 billion cubic meters, making it the country with the largest and fastest growth of forest resources in the world.

– Strengthening basic capacity-building. Strengthen the construction of the "dual carbon" regulatory and standard system, improve the statistical accounting system for carbon emissions, and improve the regulations, standards, measurement, testing, and certification systems. The first batch of 35 typical representative cities and parks across the country will be selected to carry out the national carbon peak pilot construction, and explore the carbon peak path of cities and parks with different resource endowments and development foundations. We will strengthen research on key green and low-carbon technologies, build five national key laboratories in the field of "dual carbon", and implement demonstration projects for green and low-carbon advanced technologies. Innovate the talent training model and improve the "double carbon" talent training system.

Research and formulate opinions on promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development

A few days ago, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the "Three-year Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of "Bamboo instead of Plastic" to further promote the whole chain of plastic pollution.

Tackling plastic pollution has become a hot topic in the field of global environmental governance. In November 2022, the Chinese government and INBAR jointly launched the "Bamboo instead of Plastic" initiative.

Zhu Liyang, president of the China Association of Circular Economy, said that promoting "bamboo instead of plastic" is a strong support for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

"Bamboo grows fast and has a strong carbon sequestration capacity, which is an important way for forestry carbon sinks. It is estimated that if 100 million tons of bamboo are used to replace PVC products globally every year, it is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 600 million tons. Zhu Liyang said.

Energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement are the only way to promote high-quality development, and they are the most direct, effective and economical means of carbon reduction. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 3 billion tons through energy conservation and energy efficiency, and promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality has also put forward new and higher requirements for energy conservation.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development is a key link to achieve high-quality development.

“国家发展改革委正会同有关部门Research and formulate opinions on promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development，对重点领域和关键环节绿色转型作出系统部署。”刘德春告诉记者。

China's industrial energy consumption accounts for about 70% of the energy consumption of the whole society, and the energy efficiency of many existing projects and energy-using equipment is low, and the energy-saving means of the industrial park system are insufficient. China's construction area and energy consumption continue to increase, and the problem of energy waste in heating and cooling links is prominent.

According to reports, the key areas cover spatial pattern, industrial structure, energy structure, transportation, urban and rural construction, etc., and will improve the fiscal, tax, financial, investment, price policies and standard systems to support green and low-carbon development.

At present, the problem of energy resource constraints in China is still prominent, and there is still great potential for energy conservation in the whole society. To solve the problem of energy resources in our country, we must not only open up sources but also reduce expenditure.

The National Development and Reform Commission proposed that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's energy intensity has decreased by 26.4%, and the average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3% has supported the average annual economic growth of 6.2%, providing an important guarantee for the sustainable and healthy development of the economy. It is necessary to take energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement as a long-term task to alleviate the constraints of energy resources, reduce the pressure of carbon emissions, and ensure high-quality economic and social development, and put them in a more prominent strategic position.

Liu Dechun said that in promoting energy conservation and improving energy efficiency, we will focus on three aspects.

First, focus on the "14th Five-Year Plan" energy-saving goals and tasks. Solidly carry out the mid-term assessment of the "14th Five-Year Plan" energy conservation work, sort out the progress of energy conservation work one by one by local and sub-industry, and take targeted measures to promote the implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan" energy conservation goals and tasks.

The second is to promote energy conservation, carbon reduction and efficiency improvement in key areas. Carry out in-depth energy efficiency benchmarking and upgrading, and implement the upgrading of energy-using equipment. Implement the "Measures for the Review of Energy Conservation in Fixed Asset Investment Projects", strictly control the energy efficiency of new projects, and resolutely curb the blind launch of "two high and one low" projects.

The third is to strengthen the daily management of energy-saving work. Implement energy-saving monitoring and energy-saving diagnosis, and accelerate the research and development and promotion of advanced technologies for energy conservation and carbon reduction. Implement the policy that raw material energy use and renewable energy consumption are not included in the total energy consumption and intensity control policy。

"We will thoroughly implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, implement a comprehensive conservation strategy, accelerate energy-saving and carbon-reduction transformation in key areas, build a waste recycling system, and accelerate the promotion of green, low-carbon and high-quality development. Liu Dechun said.

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The original title of China Environment News was:

Actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) continues to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of production methods and lifestyles