News Center



Home News Center News

Some Crucial Issues in China’s Green Transition

Aug 22-2024   



In a recent forum, Prof. Xun Jintao of the NSD delivered a keynote speech analyzing some crucial aspects of green and low-carbon transition. He is Peking University Boya Distinguished Professor, NSD Professor of Economics, and Director of Environment and Energy Economics Institute.

 

Despite milestones like the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, the world still faces stark challenges to keep a lid on global warming, said Prof. Xu. Since first surpassing the global average in 2002, China’s average carbon emission per capita has risen to about twice the global figure nowadays. This highlights not only the country’s important role in global drive to deal with climate change, but also the immense international pressure it is confronted with.

 

China has made solemn commitments: it aims to reach ‘peak carbon’ by 2030 and ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2060. Such goals also reflect its own intrinsic requirement to achieve sustainable development, said Prof. Xu. China can expect to drastically slash carbon emissions, but between 2050 and 2060, there will still exist 2 to 3 billion tons. To achieve carbon neutrality, engineering methods such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) are needed, though they are not ready for mass-market applications yet. Given China’s prowess in man-made forests, Prof. Xu pointed out that forest carbon sequestration can play a big role in realizing carbon neutrality.

 

China can still significantly increase the power of its forests in absorbing carbon dioxide through three major ways, said Prof. Xu. One is continuing to expand the area of its man-made forests, albeit the result might be limited: adding 4-5% more in planting areas will provide an additional absorbing power of less than 100 million tons, which, coupled with the current forest carbon sequestration of 800-900 million tons, still fall far short of the targeted 2-3 billion tons. Another measure is to improve the quality of forests. If China’s forest stock volume per hectare is increased from current 80-92 cubic meters to the global average of 137, its carbon sequestration will almost double. The third way is to promote the use of lumber in construction and furniture-making, which will go a long way in reducing carbon emissions resulting from the manufacturing of some construction materials.

 

Prof. Xu also examined the importance of adjusting energy structure and crafting appropriate economic policy. Given the complexity of carbon trading, he believed carbon taxes will have a large room for development in the future. With the European Union pushing forward the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the founding of the Germany-led 37-member Climate Club, China needs to re-set its carbon taxes to fit into a global carbon pricing system. In addition, Prof. Xu believed that economic policy like this can lead to more fairness in green transition: private enterprises and small and micro-sized firms are thus subjected to the same policy – rather than biased administrative measures - as are state-owned ones.

 

Some Crucial Issues in China’s Green Transition

Aug 22-2024   



In a recent forum, Prof. Xun Jintao of the NSD delivered a keynote speech analyzing some crucial aspects of green and low-carbon transition. He is Peking University Boya Distinguished Professor, NSD Professor of Economics, and Director of Environment and Energy Economics Institute.

 

Despite milestones like the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, the world still faces stark challenges to keep a lid on global warming, said Prof. Xu. Since first surpassing the global average in 2002, China’s average carbon emission per capita has risen to about twice the global figure nowadays. This highlights not only the country’s important role in global drive to deal with climate change, but also the immense international pressure it is confronted with.

 

China has made solemn commitments: it aims to reach ‘peak carbon’ by 2030 and ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2060. Such goals also reflect its own intrinsic requirement to achieve sustainable development, said Prof. Xu. China can expect to drastically slash carbon emissions, but between 2050 and 2060, there will still exist 2 to 3 billion tons. To achieve carbon neutrality, engineering methods such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) are needed, though they are not ready for mass-market applications yet. Given China’s prowess in man-made forests, Prof. Xu pointed out that forest carbon sequestration can play a big role in realizing carbon neutrality.

 

China can still significantly increase the power of its forests in absorbing carbon dioxide through three major ways, said Prof. Xu. One is continuing to expand the area of its man-made forests, albeit the result might be limited: adding 4-5% more in planting areas will provide an additional absorbing power of less than 100 million tons, which, coupled with the current forest carbon sequestration of 800-900 million tons, still fall far short of the targeted 2-3 billion tons. Another measure is to improve the quality of forests. If China’s forest stock volume per hectare is increased from current 80-92 cubic meters to the global average of 137, its carbon sequestration will almost double. The third way is to promote the use of lumber in construction and furniture-making, which will go a long way in reducing carbon emissions resulting from the manufacturing of some construction materials.

 

Prof. Xu also examined the importance of adjusting energy structure and crafting appropriate economic policy. Given the complexity of carbon trading, he believed carbon taxes will have a large room for development in the future. With the European Union pushing forward the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the founding of the Germany-led 37-member Climate Club, China needs to re-set its carbon taxes to fit into a global carbon pricing system. In addition, Prof. Xu believed that economic policy like this can lead to more fairness in green transition: private enterprises and small and micro-sized firms are thus subjected to the same policy – rather than biased administrative measures - as are state-owned ones.