Keywords of climate change: carbon peak, carbon neutrality, net zero emissions

2023-12-08

In policy discussions on addressing climate change, concepts such as "carbon peak", "carbon neutrality", and "net zero emissions" frequently appear. What are their meanings? Why is it crucial to achieve global climate goals? According to the definition, carbon peaking refers to the process in which carbon dioxide emissions reach their historical highest value and continue to decline after a plateau period. It is the historical turning point of carbon dioxide emissions from increase to decrease. Achieving carbon peak means that the economic growth of a country or region is no longer at the cost of increasing carbon emissions, and is therefore considered a landmark event in the green and low-carbon transformation process of an economy. Carbon neutrality refers to offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions generated by oneself through afforestation, energy conservation and emission reduction, and achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions. The earlier and lower the peak time of carbon, the greater the space and flexibility for achieving carbon neutrality, and the less difficult it is. Unlike carbon neutrality, net zero emissions include carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, indicating that humans remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through various effective means, such as energy transformation, to balance and offset anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving carbon neutrality is extremely urgent. The World Meteorological Organization reported at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on the 5th that the period from 2011 to 2020 was the hottest decade on record. Extreme weather events over the past decade have had a devastating impact on food security, causing displacement of people and hindering the progress of national development and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Scientific evidence suggests that climate change is mainly caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane produced by human combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. In order to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, the Paris Agreement reached at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference proposed to control the global average temperature within 2 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels and strive for a warming of within 1.5 degrees Celsius. UN Secretary General Guterres pointed out in March this year that global temperatures have risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius compared to pre industrial levels, while greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. To achieve temperature control goals, the Paris Agreement requires the world to peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of this century. He has repeatedly called for global action to address climate change. He previously stated that achieving carbon neutrality is the most urgent mission in the world today. How to achieve carbon neutrality requires the joint efforts of countries around the world. According to the Paris Agreement, all contracting parties jointly address climate change through "autonomous contributions". Starting from 2020, all parties are required to submit a climate action plan every 5 years, which is the goal of national independent contribution. The latest report of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change states that if the latest national voluntary contributions submitted by countries are implemented, it is expected that global greenhouse gas emissions will only decrease by 2% by 2030 compared to 2019. According to the research of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations, in order to control the temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 2030

Edit:He Chuanning    Responsible editor:Su Suiyue

Source:Xinhua

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