New | China’s carbon emissions ‘can peak by 2025’, five years ahead of target: top State Grid official

China’s carbon emissions can peak by 2025, five years earlier than its 2030 target, a top mainland official said on the weekend.

“China can bring forward carbon emission peak time to about 2025 from 2030,” Liu Zhenya, chairman of the State Grid Corporation of China, said on Saturday.

READ MORE: How China, the ‘world’s largest polluter’, is taking on climate change

At its peak, the country’s carbon emissions would total 10.5 billion tonnes, he said. China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Liu’s comment comes days after a landmark climate change deal was struck in Paris, with some 190 countries agreeing to cut emissions and keep the rise in global temperature to within 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. China’s cooperation is vital to meet the target.

While Liu’s estimate echoed research agencies’ findings, it was the first time a senior mainland official was declaring the country’s intention to go the extra mile to fight climate change on top of simply meeting the official target.

Last year, China and the United States issued a joint declaration on climate change in which China promised to peak its emissions by 2030. The deal paved the way for the Paris agreement.

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