III. Significant Changes in China's Response to Climate Change

China upholds the vision of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. Based on domestic realities and taking into consideration the international situation, China continues to employ its wisdom and apply its solutions to the transition to green and low-carbon social and economic development. As a responsible major country, it is making its due contribution to the global response to climate change.

1. Coordinating Economic Development with Reductions in Pollution and Carbon Emissions

China follows the path of green, low-carbon and sustainable development, and is committed to integrating green development into the whole process of economic development. Greenness has become an integral component of sustained and high-quality social and economic development, and China's carbon intensity has decreased significantly. China's carbon intensity in 2020 was 18.8 percent lower than that in 2015, a better result than the binding target set in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020). The figure was also 48.4 percent less than that in 2005, which means that China had more than fulfilled its commitment to the international community – to achieve a 40-45 percent reduction in carbon intensity from the 2005 level by 2020. The drop in carbon intensity translates to a total reduction of about 5.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 to 2020, and demonstrates that China has largely reversed the rapid growth of its carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, China's economy has achieved leapfrog development. Its GDP in 2020 was more than four times greater than in 2005. It has achieved a great victory in moving nearly 100 million rural poor out of poverty, and succeeded in the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty. China has also achieved remarkable successes in eco-environmental protection, and the overall environment is becoming more beautiful. It has taken solid steps to build a beautiful China. The binding eco-environmental targets set in the 13th Five-Year Plan have all been exceeded. The following results were achieved in 2020: The ratio of days with "excellent" air quality in cities at and above prefecture level was 87 percent (against a target of 84.5 percent). The average concentration of PM2.5 in cities at and above prefecture level went down by 28.8 percent from the 2015 level (against a target of 18 percent). The combined proportion of state-controlled water sections with good-quality surface water increased to 83.4 percent (against a target of 70 percent). The proportion of water sections with bad quality surface water below Grade V decreased to 0.6 percent (against a target of 5 percent). Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen emissions and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP have continued to decline after China completed the 13th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule in 2019. The phased objectives and tasks of pollution prevention and control have been completed to a high standard. The battles to defend blue skies, clear waters and clean land and the seven landmark campaigns for pollution prevention and control have achieved decisive results. The number of days with heavy pollution has decreased significantly.

2. Remarkable Results in Revolutionizing Energy Production and Consumption

China has committed to implementing a new energy security strategy, with major changes made in energy production and utilization, and historic achievements in energy development. These provide vital momentum to achieve high-quality development, win the battle against poverty, and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. They also contribute to China's drive to mitigate climate change and build a clean and beautiful world.

Non-fossil energy is developing rapidly. China gives priority to the development of non-fossil energy. It is vigorously developing and utilizing alternative energy sources, and promoting a green and low-carbon transformation of its energy industry. Preliminary calculations show that in 2020, non-fossil energy contributed 15.9 percent to China's total energy consumption, a significant increase of 8.5 percentage points compared with 2005. The total installed capacity of non-fossil energy power generation in China reached 980 million kW, accounting for 44.7 percent of total installed capacity. Within this figure, wind represented 280 million kW, PV 250 million kW, hydro 370 million kW, biomass 29.52 million kW, and nuclear power 49.89 million kW. PV power increased by a factor of more than 3,000 compared with 2005, and wind by a factor of more than 200. Electricity generated by non-fossil energy reached 2.6 trillion kWh, representing more than one third of the power consumption of the country.

China is rapidly reducing its energy consumption intensity. Preliminary calculations show that the reduction from 2011 to 2020 reached 28.7 percent, one of the fastest in the world. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), China fueled an average annual economic growth of 5.7 percent with an average annual energy consumption growth of 2.8 percent, and the amount of energy it saved accounted for about half of the global energy savings in the same period. China has been ranked among leading countries in the efficiency of coal consumption in its coal-fired power generation units. By the end of 2020, it had approximately 950 million kW of installed capacity in ultra-low emission units, and over 800 million kW of installed capacity in units that had undergone energy-saving transformation. The average coal consumption of thermal power plants had decreased to 305.8 grams of standard coal per kWh, down more than 27 grams compared with 2010. The energy saved represents a reduction of 370 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission by coal-fired power generation units in 2020 compared with 2010. From 2016 to 2020, China issued 16 mandatory energy consumption quota standards, achieving an annual energy saving of 77 million tonnes of standard coal, equivalent to 148 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions; it issued 26 mandatory product and equipment energy efficiency standards, realizing an annual power saving of 49 billion kWh.

China has accelerated the transformation to a clean and low-carbon energy consumption structure. In order to address pollution and climate change caused by fossil fuel combustion, China has strictly controlled coal consumption, and the proportion of coal consumption has continued to decline significantly. In 2020, China's total energy consumption was kept under 5 billion tonnes of standard coal. The proportion of coal in its total energy consumption dropped from 72.4 percent in 2005 to 56.8 percent in 2020. China exceeded the target for reducing coal production capacity and eliminated more than 45 million kW of outdated coal and electricity production capacity during the 2016-2020 period. By the end of 2020, the clean heating rate in winter in northern China had increased to more than 60 percent. Coal for non-industrial sectors has been replaced with cleaner energy in the power supply to around 25 million households in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and surrounding areas and on the Fenwei Plain, representing a reduction of around 50 million tonnes of coal for non-industrial sectors, which is equivalent to cutting about 92 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Energy development significantly contributes to poverty alleviation. China has implemented a project to alleviate poverty through the rational development and utilization of energy resources in poor areas, effectively boosting their economic development capacity. China has built a total of more than 26 million kW of PV poverty-alleviation power stations, and thousands of "sunshine banks" in poor rural areas, benefiting about 60,000 poor villages and 4.15 million poor households. This innovative model for the integrated development of PV energy and agriculture is helping to win the battle against poverty.