September 25, 2025

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Over the past decade, China has displayed a more proactive and influential role in global climate governance - a fact recognized by the international community. At Wednesday's UN climate summit, China announced its new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), declaring that by 2035 China will reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent to 10 percent from peak levels.

China's NDCs have drawn wide attention. For example, the BBC ran a headline saying, "China makes landmark pledge to cut its climate emissions," using it as a contrast with US inaction. Yet some critics say China's targets are "conservative." In fact, the goals China has proposed reflect not only sincerity, but also pragmatism - striking a careful balance between the real conditions of a developing country and its global responsibilities.

Compared with the first two sets of NDCs submitted in 2015 and 2020, the new round of targets goes further. Li Zhiqing, a professor specializing in environmental economics and China's economy at Fudan University, told the Global Times that this is the first time the target covers economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions rather than being limited to carbon dioxide emissions. This shows that China's carbon-emissions governance is expanding from a single sector to the entire economy - moving beyond a focus on the production or manufacturing side to encompass both production and consumption across all industries in the national economy.

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https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202509/1344506.shtml