The Comprehensive Report on China's Carbon Neutrality 2020: The energy transitio
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2020/12/15 17:11:32
Recently, the energy foundation released carbon neutral comprehensive report 2020 of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as "report"), the report pointed out that carbon neutral by 2060 vision has led to a series of transformation work, will enhance China's leadership in the emerging field of green economy and competitiveness, to provide support for structural industry reform, phasing out polluting strengthen energy security, energy and industry continues to significantly improve people's health and well-being at the same time, the all-round improvement of the ecological environment.
The report also notes that achieving carbon neutrality in 2060 will be challenging and will require China to effectively identify near-term actions in key sectors such as power, construction, industry, transportation, agriculture, forestry and land use, as well as cross-sector cooperation from policy, financial and technology perspectives, while developing a strong long-term strategy.
Delay in peaking will hinder the achievement of the carbon neutral target
Leon Clark, research director of the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland, said in the report that both global and national studies have called for China to peak its emissions as soon as possible in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Even a scenario of limiting global warming to 2°C would require China to peak its emissions as soon as possible by 2030."If China's emissions do not peak by 2030, it will not only mean that its cumulative emissions will be higher, but it will also pose a huge challenge to achieve carbon neutrality and control cumulative emissions by 2060."Because the Chinese economy would be 'locked up' in high-carbon assets that are hard to shift, such as new coal-fired power plants;A delay in peaking would also squeeze out time for broader social, economic and energy system transitions to control cumulative emissions.In other words, a delay in peaking would hinder the goal of carbon neutrality."Leon Clark said.
To achieve the goal of carbon neutrality requires rapid and large-scale deployment of low-carbon energy
Speaking at the general debate of the 75th SESSION of the UN General Assembly, President Xi Jinping proposed that China would increase its intended nationally determined contribution, adopt more forceful policies and measures, strive to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
China's carbon-neutral target is a challenge for the economy as a whole, and it is possible to reduce China's carbon dioxide emissions to zero only through large-scale reductions in emissions from various sectors of the economy, the report said.
"The achievement of China's carbon neutral target means that low carbon energy needs to be promoted quickly and on a large scale.According to the scenario considered in this study, the proportion of low-carbon energy in the total primary energy consumption should be increased from about 6% in 2015 to 35-65% in 2035 and 70-85% in 2050, so as to reach the temperature control target of 1.5°C.The implementation of these decarbonisation strategies will also lead to changes in the energy carriers used in construction, industry and transport."At the heart of all decarbonisation strategies is the sectoral phase-out of coal use without CCUS."This means power and industrial sectors will bear the brunt, as coal now accounts for a large proportion of fuel supply in these sectors, the report said.
It is proposed to increase the proportion of electricity generated from non-fossil fuels to about 45% by 2025
The report recommends actions that China needs to take immediately in the power, construction, industrial and transportation sectors, including stopping the construction of new conventional coal-fired power plants that do not use CCUS technology;Identify and close a small number of older, polluting and inefficient coal-fired power plants;Continue to increase the proportion of electricity generated from non-fossil fuels to around 45% by 2025;Establish spot market of electric power;Increase cross-provincial green electricity trading through electricity market reform;Improve CCUS policies to promote CCUS technology in new fossil fuel power plants or CCUS retrofits in existing power plants.
For the construction industry, the report recommends further clarifying the use of electrification and renewable energy in the building sector, so as to continuously improve building energy efficiency design standards;Continue to improve home appliance energy efficiency standards and labeling programs to incorporate smart technologies to achieve system energy efficiency;Phasing out coal use in rural residential buildings by promoting local photovoltaic power generation and efficient biomass utilization;Reduce reliance on large commercial buildings by developing small commercial buildings and encourage the use of passive technologies such as natural ventilation and lighting;Deploy smart technologies to improve demand side response and grid flexibility.
In the industrial sector, it is suggested to eliminate overcapacity, optimize industrial structure, improve efficiency and innovation capacity;Improve relevant systems and standards for environmental impact assessment and energy technology assessment to provide guidance for restricting investment in energy-intensive industries;Adopt demand management measures to control the output of industrial products and reduce the total energy demand;Prioritizing the deployment of energy-saving technologies and controlling overall energy demand;Increase electrification, especially the use of alternative coal.
In the area of transport, the report recommends that the utility of railways and waterways be brought into play and that the long-haul freight structure be adjusted more rapidly;Focusing on "public transport + cycling or walking", we will accelerate the improvement of the green travel system.Focus on the application of new energy vehicles to improve the level of clean technology in the transportation sector;We will vigorously develop intelligent transportation and significantly improve transportation energy efficiency.Strengthen the policy innovation of traffic demand management.
Agriculture, forestry and other land uses continue to develop sustainable agriculture, promote circular agriculture, recycle waste and improve the efficiency of resource utilization;Encourage the application of new technologies and innovative measures in the agricultural sector, including climate-smart agriculture and artificial intelligence;Continue to implement and strengthen sustainable forest management to maintain and enhance forest carbon sinks;Take actions that generate synergies by actively considering the links between agriculture, water, pollution, biodiversity, diet and greenhouse gas emissions.
When released the report, liam Clarke also said that the latest research suggests two strategic challenges: first, because many alternatives as well as wind power and the constant improvement of the photoelectric economic competitiveness, relative to other departments, the power sector is more recent sharp reduction opportunities, but this does not mean that other departments do not need to take immediate action to reduce emissions;Second, many facilities and processes do not currently have low-cost mitigation options. For example, the air transport sector will either eventually decarbonize or may never decarbonize completely.
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