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I. Status in Addressing Climate Change
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As international consensus on addressing climate change continues to deepen and China's strength increases, China is faced with a new situation regarding the climate change issue. From an international perspective, the international community's scientific understanding of climate change has deepened. The Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has further strengthened the scientific conclusion that human activity accounts for climate change. The global impact of climate change has become increasingly prominent and posed the most severe challenge to the world. As the global awareness of climate change is gradually increasing, it has become the common aspiration of all nations to tackle climate change. International climate change negotiations have entered a new stage. At the end of 2012, a package deal was reached at the Doha Climate Change Conference on important issues including the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and a long-term cooperative action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This accomplished the Bali Road Map negotiations and pushed forward the Durban Platform negotiations. Countries are making positive efforts to reach a new global agreement in 2015. From a domestic perspective, governments at all levels have emphasized climate change, made positive progress, and increased their abilities to mitigate the effects of and adapt to climate change. The development of mechanisms, laws and standard systems addressing climate change has been gradually improved. The people's awareness of low-carbon development has increased. In 2012, CO2 emissions per unit of GDP fell 5.02 percent compared to 2011. By the end of 2012, the output of China's energy saving and environmental protection industry exceeded 2.7 trillion yuan. China's current capacity in hydropower, nuclear, solar, and wind power, and plantation areas all rank first in the world, which has made a positive contribution to addressing global climate change. China is still in the process of industrialization and urbanization. Its economy is growing rapidly. China's energy consumption and CO2 emissions are large and will continue to grow. Great efforts are needed to control greenhouse gas emissions. During the coming period, which is critical for China in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China will put more emphasis on quality, and performance of the economic growth, promote ecological progress, and make greater efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions, and make positive contributions to the global climate change issue. |
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