China, the world’s largest carbon polluter, has pledged to cut emissions for the first time
President Xi Jinping has announced that China is aiming to slash carbon emissions by up to 10% in the next decade.
While roughly 100 countries have been making commitments to lower fossil fuel emissions at the United Nations climate summit in New York, one nation’s pledge matters most.
In a video statement yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the world’s largest carbon-polluting country — responsible for over 31% of global CO2 emissions — would aim to reduce its emissions by 7% to 10% by 2035, as reported by the Associated Press.
Futhermore, Xi pledged that the country will increase its wind and solar power sixfold from the level reported in 2020, helping to cement its contradictory position as both the world leader in renewables as well as the world’s biggest polluter.
From a global perspective, China’s commitment is pivotal. The country produced a massive 11.9 billion tonnes of carbon emissions at the last count in 2023, per data from the Global Carbon Budget — more than the next five top carbon-polluting nations combined.
Emission impossible
China’s landmark pledge comes as countries scramble to submit new climate plans by the end of the month in preparation for COP30 in November. As part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, world leaders are making further commitments to reduce fossil fuel emissions in an effort to cap the long-term global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
However, there’s also been some notable opposition, with President Trump doubling down on his anti-climate stance in his address to the UN on Tuesday. Indeed, Trump moved to withdraw the US — the second-largest carbon polluter globally — from the Paris agreement on his first day back in office earlier this year.
