China's climate plans fall short, say analysts

Country's newly announced goals a missed opportunity to show leadership, they add

- Lim Min Zhang China Correspondent

China's conservative targets for its latest national climate plan, announced by President Xi Jinping on Sept 24, are a missed opportunity for the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases to show stronger climate leadership, said observers.

Mr Xi told a United Nations meeting on climate action in New York via a video statement that China will, by 2035, reduce net emissions by 7 per cent to 10 per cent from peak levels, while "striving to do better".

This was the first time that China had set out a concrete emissions reduction target.

But it falls short of the 30 per cent reduction for China that studies say is required to limit global warming to 1.5 deg C, a key goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Mr Xi also pledged that China will increase the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to more than 30 per cent - an increase of around 10 percentage points - as well as "make new-energy vehicles the mainstream in the sales of new vehicles". Such targets are considered achievable based on current trends.

China's proportion of non-fossil energy consumption increased from 15.9 per cent in 2020 to 19.8 per cent in 2024, and the country has installed renewable energy capacity at breakneck speed.