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China to rectify deviations in carbon reduction plan – NDRC

Published

5 years ago

August 17, 2021

China would rectify deviations in its effort to cut carbon emissions, the country’s top economic planner said on Tuesday.

The country would also resolutely curb the pell-mell development of high-energy intensity and highly pollutive projects.

During the process of cutting carbon emissions, some regions set overly ambitious and unrealistic goals or simply chanted slogans without taking actions.

While some industries failed to make solid energy-saving efforts in the hope that certain technology would solve the problem once and for all, said Meng Wei.

Wei, the spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), added that these issues must be addressed accordingly.

He also pointed out problems such as a “one-size-fits-all” approach in shutting down energy-intensive projects and a sudden cut-off in loans to coal-fired power projects.

“These phenomena run counter to the original intention and requirements of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality and must be resolutely corrected,” Wei said.

The statement echoed an announcement made at a recent meeting attended by the country’s top decision-makers, which called for putting an end to campaign-style carbon reduction and resolutely curbing high energy-consuming and high-emission projects.

The country was striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Wei said the commission would refine policy requirements and strengthen supervision to fix related problems once found, and ensure that the carbon reduction efforts do not deviate from the original goal.

In the meantime, the commission would improve the mechanism on energy consumption control and roll out a three-year work plan to guide local efforts to curb the blind expansion of high-energy intensity and highly pollutive projects, Wei added.