With climate agreement, China to boost renewable energy for green growth

World Today

The landmark Paris deal could mark the beginning of the end for dependence on fossil fuels. It will be a significant challenge for developing countries such as China, which have relied on oil and coal for economic growth.

CCTV’s Tang Bo reports.

After nearly two weeks of talks and more than two decades of meetings, more than 190 countries agreed to a universal deal to address climate change. The Paris Agreement embodies the broadest consensus, and is the product of arduous efforts from heads of state, ministers and negotiators of all nations.

Nearly all the participating countries submitted pledges on how much they would reduce their carbon emissions by 2030. China committed to peak its emissions by 2030, and to lower its emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 percent.

That means there will be a huge demand for renewable energy in the country going forward.

But the switch is by no means straight-forward.

“China relies a lot on fossil fuels for its growth. But efforts have been made for new energy development. Around 58 percent of the increase in China’s primary energy consumption in the last two years has come from non-fossil fuel sources,” Chen Ying, a scholar at the Chinese Academy Of Social Sciences, said. “There will be big sacrifices when re-adjusting China’s industrial and energy structure, but that’s something we have to do.”

Experts say the final deal succeeds in striking a middle ground, which allows for a country’s responsibilities towards climate change to grow in parallel with its capabilities. Now there is no strict firewall between rich, rising, and poor nations. For the first time, under the new pact, all countries, including China, will commit as one to fight global warming.