BEIJING: China will rectify deviations in its effort to cut carbon emissions while resolutely curbing the pell-mell development of high-energy intensity and highly pollutive projects, the country’s top economic planner said Tuesday.
In the process of cutting carbon emissions, some regions have 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, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), adding that these issues must be addressed.
Meng 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,” Meng said.
The statement echoed an announcement made at a recent meeting attended by the country’s top decision-makers, which urged putting an end to “campaign-style” carbon reduction and resolutely curbing high energy-consuming and high-emission projects.
The country is striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
The commission will 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, Meng said.
In the meantime, the commission will improve the mechanism on energy consumption control and roll out a three-year work plan to guide local efforts on curbing the blind expansion of high-energy intensity and highly pollutive projects, Meng added. – Agencies
