SINGAPORE: China's climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions could fall by a third by 2035 and align with the goals of the Paris Agreement if it submits more ambitious pledges to the United Nations early next year, an environmental think tank said on Thursday.
As part of their Paris obligations, nations must deliver new and stronger "nationally determined contributions" (NDCs) to the UN by February to lay out goals for 2035. Pledges from China, the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, will be closely scrutinised.
With China on course to meet its 2030 climate goals with relative ease, it could now capitalise on its renewable energy advantages and establish policies that will slash emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2035, said the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Total CO2 levels could now already be in "structural decline" after falling this year, and there are positive signs that climate is back on the policy agenda, said CREA's China policy analyst, Belinda Schape.
However, "despite these positive trends, there is a risk that Chinese policymakers may be lowballing China's climate targets for 2035 amid current policy inertia," she said.
China has not disclosed any details related to its NDC plans. In August, top renewable energy official Li Chuangjun told reporters it was "working hard" to establish 2035 targets.
China's long-term climate goals are fixed and its pathway to net zero emissions will be decided by China alone and "will never be influenced by others", Li said.
Climate Action Tracker, an independent initiative that assesses how countries match up to the Paris goal to keep temperature rises within 1.5 degree Celsius, has described China's last NDC submission in 2021 as "highly insufficient".
China is classed by the UN as a developing country so is not obliged to make absolute cuts in emissions. It said in its last NDC submission in 2022 that it had "made every effort" to advance climate action.
China may already have achieved the target to bring emissions to a peak by "before 2030" and a goal to increase wind and solar capacity to 1,200 gigawatts by 2030 has also been met six years early, after record levels of new installations.
CREA said China was capable of setting a 2035 wind and solar target of 4,500 GW and cutting total power sector emissions by at least 30 per cent.
It could also cut steel and cement emissions by 45 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. Strong targets to slash other greenhouse gases like methane are also achievable, CREA said.
China has already ordered its steel mills to undergo "low-carbon renovation" that will cut emissions by an estimated 53 million metric tons by next year.
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