Chinese brand electric cars are parked in the shuttle car parking lot at COP28. Since the opening of COP28, Chinese brand electric vehicles have provided services for this climate conference, adding a beautiful landscape.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Dongzhen.
On December 13, local time, at the closing plenary session of COP28, COP28 President Sultan Jaber announced the "UAE Consensus", and the participants gave a standing ovation.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Dongzhen.
The Antarctic glaciers, the 'sleeping giants', are waking up, and the world must recognise that. On the eve of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued such a warning after witnessing the impact of climate change on the Antarctic continent.
In 2023, with the frequent occurrence of extreme weather events around the world, climate change has brought many impacts on the natural environment and human economic and social development, and it is increasingly urgent to seek a common response.
Raise China's voice to the international community.
From November 30 to December 13 local time, COP28 was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which was the largest climate change conference in history.
After more than two weeks of negotiations, COP28 reached the "UAE Consensus" on the first global stocktaking of the Paris Agreement, mitigation, adaptation and other issues. Zhao Yingmin, head of the Chinese delegation and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that the first global stocktaking of the Paris Agreement has sent a strong positive signal to the international community, is an important milestone, and has opened a new chapter in the global climate process.
During COP28, more than 100 side events were held at the China Corner, focusing on China's policies and actions on climate change, international cooperation on climate change, and green and low-carbon development, sending China's voice to the world and attracting wide attention from the international community.
The melting of glaciers is a direct reflection of climate change, and global warming is a global crisis that accelerates the melting of glaciers. China** has taken action to propose integrated protection and systematic management of 'mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands, sand and ice'. At a side event on the theme of "Glacier Memory: Witnessing the Climate Crisis", Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, said.
Tian Chengchuan, director of the Publicity and Education Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that the Publicity and Education Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will launch a three-year "Glacier Memory: Global Visit" activity, and cooperate with relevant institutions to organize visits to the world's representative glaciers, and promote the whole society to pay attention to glaciers and actively explore solutions through scientific exploration and image dissemination.
Enterprises are an important force in achieving the "dual carbon" goal and responding to climate change.
During COP28, Li Pengcheng, CEO of Mengniu Group, said: "In the face of the severe situation of global warming, how to effectively reduce carbon emissions and actively respond to climate change is a topic that the global dairy industry must answer. ”
In the "2023 Corporate Climate Action Case Collection" released during COP28, Mengniu Group's "Green Energy Application Project for Energy Transformation of the Whole Dairy Industry Chain" was selected, which focuses on the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, promotes the construction of green energy microgrids, improves the consumption of green energy in the whole life cycle of dairy products, reduces fossil energy consumption, and demonstrates the green action power of Chinese enterprises.
At the side event on the theme of "Telling China's Stories on Climate Change and Climate Governance of Global Low-carbon Cities and Urban Agglomerations", English promotional videos, sharing of China's response to climate change, and expert dialogues on climate governance in cities and urban agglomerations were brilliant, showing China's positive actions to the world on climate change from multiple perspectives.
Guo Yuanyuan, assistant to the general manager and editor-in-chief of China Environment Publishing Group, president and editor-in-chief of Environmental Protection magazine, told reporters that China Environment Publishing Group has really, three-dimensionally and comprehensively demonstrated China's policies, actions and achievements in response to climate change through book publishing, digital communication, and ecological and cultural activities, and told the story of beautiful China to the world.
Continue to promote green and low-carbon development.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) recently released the 2023 Annual Report on China's Policies and Actions on Climate Change, which details China's new progress in addressing climate change since 2022, reflecting the progress of key areas in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate change, building carbon markets, policies and guarantees, and actively participating in global governance to address climate change.
Xia Yingxian, Director General of the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that China attaches great importance to climate change, implements a national strategy to actively respond to climate change, builds a "1+N" policy system for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, promotes the adjustment of industry, energy and transportation structures, and adopts a series of measures such as energy conservation and energy efficiency, establishment and improvement of market mechanisms, and increase forest carbon sinks, so as to make positive progress in addressing climate change, and reduce carbon emission intensity by more than 51% in 2022 compared with 2005 , non-fossil energy accounted for 17 percent of energy consumption5%。
During COP28, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences and the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs jointly released the report "China's Practical Actions to Address Global Climate Change", which systematically sorted out China's practical actions in 10 aspects, including top-level design, local pilots, industry decarbonization and public participation, to demonstrate China's progress in implementing the "dual carbon" commitment, and to gather the best carbon reduction practices.
Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told reporters: "We found many impressive figures in the process of combing and inventory, for example, the number of new energy vehicles in China reached 18 million, more than half of the world's new energy vehicles are driving on the land of China, and more than 60% of the power batteries are produced in China." China's measures in implementing the 'dual carbon' commitment have made positive contributions to global carbon emission reduction. ”
Sandwiched between the two mountains, on the bank of the Jialing River, at the site of the second phase of the project of Huaneng Chongqing Liangjiang Gas Turbine Power Generation Company, steel bars are lined up, machines are roaring, and workers are working intensively. "The project will use gas-fired units to burn natural gas to generate electricity, which is low-carbon and environmentally friendly, and flexible in start and stop. The relevant person in charge of the company introduced.
The project is progressing smoothly and is inseparable from financial security. In September 2022, the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Climate Investment and Financing National Pilot Project was launched, and the second phase of Huaneng Chongqing Liangjiang Gas Turbine Power Generation Company was included in the national climate investment and financing project database, and obtained a low-interest loan of 300 million yuan from the Bank of China, effectively reducing the financing cost of enterprises and ensuring their capital needs. As the first climate investment and financing loan cashing project in Chongqing, the total investment of the project is about 28500 million yuan, with an annual power generation of about 58300 million kWh, can save 800,000 tons of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2 million tons.
In August 2022, 23 localities were selected as China's climate finance pilot projects. Xia Yingxian introduced that the pilot work of climate investment and financing has been carried out for more than a year, and has achieved positive results, and the pilot places have incorporated the pilot tasks into the local development strategic planning, and made efforts in key links such as working mechanisms, standard systems, industry-finance docking, and innovation demonstrations, and achieved high-level protection of the ecological environment and high-quality economic and social development by strengthening collaborative innovation in carbon reduction and pollution reduction.
As of the end of June this year, nearly 2,000 climate-friendly projects have been reserved in pilot localities, involving nearly 2 trillion yuan108 financial support projects were obtained, with a total credit of 5456.3 billion yuan, providing strong support for the response to climate change.
Contribute to the global response to climate change.
China's active response to climate change not only promotes its own green and low-carbon development, but also makes important contributions to the global response to climate change.
In recent years, China has provided practical support to African countries, small island states, least developed countries and other developing countries to help combat climate change through cooperation in the construction of low-carbon demonstration zones.
Xia Yingxian introduced that as of September 2023, China has signed 48 memorandums of understanding on South-South cooperation on climate change with 40 developing countries, cooperated in the construction of 4 low-carbon demonstration zones, carried out 75 climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, held 52 capacity-building training courses, and trained more than 2,300 leaders and technicians in the field of climate change for more than 120 developing countries.
The Karot Hydropower Station, located in the Karot area of Pakistan's Punjab province, is the first hydropower investment project in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Since 2015, a group of Chinese builders have integrated Chinese technology and green concepts into the project, which lasted more than 7 years, and built the Karot Hydropower Station from its conception into a "green pearl" on the Jhelum River, which not only provides clean electricity for millions of local people, but also further increases the proportion of clean energy in Pakistan, optimizes the energy structure, and contributes to local green development.
During COP28, Nenglian Zhidian opened a special exhibition hall located in the China Innovation Center of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, and a variety of innovative products and industry solutions were displayed on site, including self-developed charging robots, high-power super charging piles, and integrated solutions for optical storage and charging, etc., attracting many foreign customers to visit and negotiate.
Not long ago, Nenglian signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce China Innovation Center, which will strengthen the talent and technology exchanges between the two sides in the renewable energy and green industries, and help the development of renewable energy and green industries in the UAE.
In the response to climate change, China has always been an active advocate and pragmatic practitioner, injecting Chinese impetus into the global response to climate change.
At the 11th High-level Forum on South-South Cooperation on Climate Change held at the China Corner of COP28, Dima Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, said that South-South cooperation on climate change is particularly important for developing countries to achieve green and low-carbon transformation, and that China's Belt and Road Initiative provides a good platform and opportunity for developing countries to strengthen cooperation on climate change, setting an example and playing an exemplary role.
The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Laos, Benghan Voraj, said that China has become a global leader in the use of green and low-carbon energy, and is also an active practitioner and supporter of South-South cooperation. The Vientiane Saiseta Low-Carbon Demonstration Zone, jointly built by Laos and China, is a model of environmental friendliness and sustainable development, and has achieved remarkable results in reducing energy consumption, carbon emissions, and fossil fuel use. (Liu Fawei).
*: People's Daily Online, People's ** Overseas Edition.