China will meet 2020 carbon reduction target, Xie Zhenhua says
China’s chief negotiator at the Paris Agreement speaks in Hong Kong after receiving Lui Che Wo prize for efforts to tackle climate change
China is on track to fulfil or possibly surpass its commitment of cutting its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020, the country’s chief negotiator at the Paris Agreement has said.
Xie Zhenhua said in Hong Kong on Tuesday that despite the United States’ planned withdrawal from the agreement, China’s commitment to fight climate change is unwavering.
China has already cut its carbon intensity – the amount of carbon emissions per unit of GDP growth – by 39 per cent this year while sustaining economic growth, said Xie, who is also former head of the State Environmental Protection Administration.
“There should be no problems meeting the 40 to 45 per cent target in 2020. (China) may even do better than that,” he said.
Trump’s decision reversed a key pillar of former President Barack Obama’s effort to combat an increase in global temperatures, which scientists say has been hastened by the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels.