of the
State Council on Addressing Climate Change and Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutralization, delivered at the 17th Meeting
of the 14th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on September 10, 2025, Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Huang Runqiu:
I am entrusted by the State Council to report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the work of addressing climate change and carbon peaking and carbon neutralization. General Secretary
Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that tackling climate change and achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality are not what others want us to do, but what we must do ourselves. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee has placed the response to climate change in a more prominent position in national governance, implemented the national strategy of actively responding to climate change, made a major strategic decision to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and integrated the "double carbon" work into the overall layout of construction of ecological civilization and the overall economic and social development. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China calls for overall planning of industrial restructuring, pollution control, ecological protection and climate change, and coordinated promotion of carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth. The Third Plenary Session of the Twentieth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized that we should actively respond to climate change and improve the green and low-carbon development mechanism. Various departments in various regions have thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and instructions and the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and have taken positive actions to achieve remarkable results. China has built the world's largest and fastest growing renewable energy system, built the world's largest and most complete new energy industry chain, and contributed a quarter of the world's new green area. The reduction of carbon intensity and the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption are basically in line with the expected progress of the 2030 National Determined Contribution (NDC) target, and the total installed capacity of wind power and solar power and forest stock have reached the 2030 NDC target ahead of schedule. The Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress attaches great importance to and supports the work of tackling climate change and carbon peak and carbon neutralization for a long time, and continuously strengthens the construction of the rule of law and work supervision, which provides a s olid guarantee for the work of tackling climate change and carbon peak and carbon neutralization.
I. Major Progress and Achievements
Under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the State Council and relevant departments have made every effort to tackle climate change and carbon peak and carbon neutrality, formed a "1 + N" policy system for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, accelerated the construction of a new mechanism for comprehensive transformation from energy consumption control to carbon emission control, and promoted economic and social systemic reform.
(1) Energy and industrial transformation have achieved remarkable results. By the end of June 2025, the installed capacity of non-fossil energy had reached 2.22 billion kilowatts, accounting for 60% of the total installed capacity. We will strengthen the clean and efficient use of fossil energy, implement the "three reforms linkage" of coal and electricity, eliminate backward production capacity of coal and electricity, and steadily increase the production and utilization of natural gas. We will accelerate the construction of the "Shagohuang" new energy base and major hydropower projects, and the scale of nuclear power in operation and under construction will rise to the first in the world. We will accelerate the construction of a new power system and build the world's largest clean power generation system and transmission network. A multi-level unified electricity market system has been initially established. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the output of photovoltaic modules and lithium batteries has increased by 3.7 times and 6 times respectively. At the same time, we have promoted the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, and completed a total of 5. We have vigorously implemented energy-saving and carbon-reducing transformation, and promoted large-scale equipment renewal and replacement of old consumer goods with new ones. More than 6000 state-level green factories have been cultivated, and their output value accounts for about 20% of the total output value of manufacturing industry. Develop circular economy and build waste recycling system.
(2) Green development in key areas continues to advance. To promote the high-quality development of green buildings and actively develop green construction, the area of new green buildings in cities and towns in 2024 was 1.69 billion square meters, accounting for 97% of the total area of new buildings in cities and towns in that year. To build a clean and low-carbon transportation system, the proportion of clean transportation of bulk goods in key industries in 2024 was about 70%, and the green transformation of civil aviation achieved outstanding results. China has become the country with the fastest growth of forest resources in the world by speeding up the construction of the national ecological security barrier system, fighting hard battles for the "Three North" project and promoting large-scale land greening. Carry out collaborative innovation pilot projects for pollution reduction and carbon reduction. We will strengthen the control of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases, revise the Regulations on the Management of Ozone Depleting Substances, include hydrofluorocarbons in the quota management, and issue and implement the methane emission control plan.
(3) The national carbon market has been gradually improved. Opinions on strengthening the construction of the national carbon market were issued, the Interim Regulations on the Management of Carbon Emission Trading were promulgated and implemented, a series of departmental regulations, normative documents and technical specifications were formulated, and the basic framework of laws and policies was completed. Establish and implement the daily supervision mechanism of monthly certificate data, and comprehensively improve the quality of data. Complete the first expansion of the national carbon market, including steel, cement and aluminium smelting industries, covering more than 60% of the national carbon emissions. By the end of June 2025, a total of 670 million tons of carbon emission quotas had been traded in the national carbon emission trading market, with a turnover of 459. The national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market was launched, and the first batch of certified voluntary emission reductions were registered and traded, helping to realize the value of ecological products.
(4) The work of adapting to climate change has been further promoted. The National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change 2035 was issued and implemented, the pilot project for the construction of climate-adapted cities was deepened, and the pilot work for urban physical examination and sponge city construction was carried out. Climate system monitoring has expanded to multiple circles, and the early warning capability of meteorological disasters has been continuously improved. We will strengthen the prevention and response to major disasters and basically establish a national emergency command system. We will strengthen the resilience of infrastructure and introduce a national action plan for healthy adaptation to climate change. We will incorporate adaptation to climate change into territorial and spatial planning at all levels, and strengthen adaptation in key areas such as the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin. Launch early warning programmes of action for adaptation and forge partnerships for climate adaptation.
(5) Steady consolidation of basic capabilities. Establish and improve the statistical accounting system of carbon emissions, launch the national greenhouse gas emission factor database, and regularly compile the national greenhouse gas inventory. The implementation plan for the establishment of a carbon footprint management system was issued, and the preparation of product carbon footprint standards and identification certification were carried out. We will introduce a national plan for building a standard system to address climate change and continue to build carbon measurement capacity. Several ecological environment monitoring satellites are in orbit to enhance remote sensing monitoring capabilities. Carbon emission administrators and carbon sink measurement and evaluation engineers will be included in the occupational classification code, and 20 general undergraduate and vocational undergraduate majors related to climate change will be added to speed up the training of professional talents. We will carry out various publicity activities, explore public participation mechanisms such as carbon inclusive, and enhance the awareness of green and low carbon among the whole people.
(6) Scientific and technological innovation and policy incentives have been continuously strengthened. We will improve the system and mechanism of carbon neutralization technology innovation and draw up a road map for the development of carbon neutralization technology. We will build national key laboratories related to carbon peak and carbon neutralization, strengthen basic research and frontier technology layout of low-carbon and zero-carbon, and strengthen research on climate change mechanism and research and development of key technologies. We will improve the market-oriented green technology innovation system and promote the application of green low-carbon technologies. The central government has continuously increased its investment, focusing on supporting the development of new energy sources and green low-carbon scientific and technological innovation. We will promote the reform of the green tax system and implement preferential policies such as tax reduction and exemption for the purchase of new energy vehicles. Strengthen green financial support, build a reserve of eco-environmental financial support projects, set up a national green development fund, and strengthen information disclosure. By the end of 2024, more than 1.3 trillion yuan of carbon emission reduction support tool incentive loans had been issued, and the balance of green loans was 36.
(7) Making important contributions to global climate governance. It serves the climate diplomacy of heads of state, participates in and leads global climate governance, and makes important contributions to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Initiate the establishment of multilateral consultation mechanisms such as the "basic four countries" and the Ministerial Conference on Climate Action to build political consensus. Fulfill international obligations with high quality and submit climate compliance reports to the United Nations. As the world's largest exporter and investor of clean technologies, China will promote international cooperation on climate change in wind power and 2. Difficulties and Challenges While making positive progress, we are also aware that China, as the largest developing country, still faces a series of problems and challenges, and that it is more difficult to coordinate development and emission reduction, overall and local, short-term and medium- and long-term. There is a long way to go to cope with climate change and carbon peak and carbon neutralization. (1) It is difficult to control carbon emission intensity. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, various regions and departments have made positive progress in promoting the reduction of carbon intensity, but it is difficult to promote the reduction of carbon intensity due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, extreme weather and changes in the international economic and trade environment. It is a very arduous task for China to achieve the highest carbon intensity reduction in the world in the shortest time in global history. (2) Continuing to promote green and low-carbon transformation is facing challenges. Energy demand continues to grow rapidly, and the demand for electricity may be higher in the future due to the acceleration of digital applications and climate warming. The increase in the proportion of new energy power generation highlights the role of coal and electricity peak shaving, and puts forward higher requirements for the regulation capacity of the power system. The difficulty of industrial transformation and upgrading has increased, the problem of blindly launching "two high" projects in some places has risen, and emerging industries are facing challenges such as "sticking neck" of some core technologies and homogeneous competition. (3) The legal and policy system needs to be improved urgently. The legal system and standard system to deal with climate change are not perfect, and it is urgent to strengthen policy coordination. The reform of energy system and mechanism needs to be further deepened, and the policy convergence of carbon accounting, carbon footprint, green certificate and carbon market needs to be further strengthened. The work system for adapting to climate change is still relatively weak, and there is a big gap in funds and technology. (4) Basic capabilities need to be further improved. The statistical accounting means of carbon emissions are insufficient, the accuracy and timeliness of data need to be improved, and the localization of emission factors is not high. Basic research and scientific and technological innovation are insufficient, and the key low-carbon zero-carbon negative carbon technology has not yet been applied on a large scale.Some local governments and enterprises have insufficient understanding of climate change and carbon peak and carbon neutralization, still rely on the traditional development path of high energy consumption and high emissions, and there is a gap between capacity and work requirements. (5) The situation of international climate governance is complex and grim. The climate crisis is intensifying, and the global average temperature in 2024 has exceeded the pre-industrial level for the first time. 1. Global climate governance is facing uncertainty, the Trump administration has announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement again, and unilateral measures such as CBAM are expanding. Third, the next step is to consider that this year is the fifth anniversary of China's carbon peak and carbon neutralization target. Guided by Xi Jinping's thought of ecological civilization, we will adhere to the concept of system, continue to implement the national strategy of actively responding to climate change, actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutralization, formulate and implement the NDC target for 2035, and form a new situation of green, low-carbon and high-quality development. (1) improve laws and policies, and comprehensively promote the implementation of the objectives and tasks of addressing climate change. Cooperate with the legislature to study and formulate special laws to deal with climate change and carbon peak and carbon neutralization, accelerate the promulgation of ecological environment codes, and promote the formulation and revision of laws and regulations such as energy conservation laws. Continuously improve the efficiency of carbon emission supervision and law enforcement, and improve the linking mechanism between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice. Cracking down on carbon market data fraud in accordance with the law. We will strengthen coordination and coordination among departments, policy co-ordination and data sharing, continue to carry out situation analysis and dispatch reminders, and do our utmost to implement the "14th Five-Year Plan" carbon intensity reduction target. We will plan for the work related to the 15th Five-Year Plan, speed up the construction of a dual-control system for carbon emissions, and formulate a comprehensive assessment method for carbon peak and carbon neutralization.
浙公网安备33010802003254号