Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday announced in a speech at the UN that China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2060, the first time it has set itself such a goal.
“Our goal is to start reducing CO emissions2 before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 ”, declared the Chinese president in a message sent to the United Nations General Assembly.
Beijing will increase its climate commitments under the Paris climate agreement, President Xi said.
“All countries must take decisive action to honor this agreement,” said Xi Jinping, implicitly pointing out that Donald Trump’s United States, the planet’s second-largest transmitter, would withdraw from it in November.
Capping Chinese emissions by 2030 at the latest is not a new commitment, and China is largely on track to achieve it, experts say. As for the 2060 target, it is less ambitious than the 2050 date which has been adopted by dozens of small countries and a few large ones, including those of the European Union, but it has been hailed by several experts as a step forward. major to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
Reducing the net carbon emissions into the atmosphere to zero by the middle of the century is essential to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C, compared to the end of the 19th century.e century, UN climate experts concluded in a landmark report in 2018.