China announces plan to curb carbon emissions
China has announced a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions over the next several years, while capping coal consumption and increasing the use of non-fossil fuels
A man and a child wear masks during a heavily polluted day in Beijing,
China, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. China's cabinet has issued a new climate
plan targeting an 18-percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 compared to
2015 levels. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) The Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — China has announced a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions over the next several years, while capping coal consumption and increasing the use of non-fossil fuels.
Under the plan, by 2020, the level of carbon dioxide
emissions per unit of GDP will be 18 percent lower than in 2015, the
State Council said on its website Friday, the same day that the Paris
climate agreement came into effect.
Coal consumption must be capped at about 4.2 billion
tonnes (4.7 billion tons), while non-fossil fuel energy generation
capacity like hydropower and nuclear power will be expanded to 15
percent of China's total capacity.
China has taken a leading role in climate change talks,
and its collaboration with the United States has been touted by
Washington and Beijing as a bright spot in an otherwise strained
relationship.
China will guarantee that emissions peak no later than
2030 under the Paris pact. There are also plans to officially launch a
national carbon trading market next year.
In recent years, China has become a world leader in
renewable energy investment and installation of new wind and solar power
capacity, but efforts by the central government to break away from coal
consumption have been frustrating at times.
Even after Beijing declared a "war on pollution,"
hundreds of new coal power plants were approved for construction in 2015
by local governments keen to buoy their economies.
Central economic planners earlier this year declared a
halt on new approvals for coal plants. Energy officials went a step
further last month when they declared a construction freeze on scores of
partially built plants across more than a dozen provinces, garnering
praise from environmental groups such as Greenpeace.
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