State Council issues plan to promote low carbon development

China is set to curb greenhouse gas emissions and promote green and low-carbon development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, according to a plan recently issued by the State Council.

According to the plan, by 2020, the level of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be 18 percent lower than in 2015.

To do this, a low carbon energy revolution will be carried out across the nation.

By 2020, carbon emissions will be restrained as total energy consumption will be kept within five billion tons of standard coal and energy consumption per unit of GDP will be 15 percent lower than in 2015.

Another move is to promote energy conservation in industrial, construction, public transport sectors.

Non-fossil energy will also be developed, including nuclear power, wind power, solar power, geothermal power, and biomass power.

Traditional fossil energy consumption will be optimized as total coal consumption in 2020 will be kept at 4.2 billion tons.

Efforts will also be made to create low carbon industries, and by 2020 carbon dioxide emissions per industrial added value will be 22 percent lower than in 2015.

Initiatives such as zero use of chemical fertilizers will be carried out to promote low carbon agriculture. And to create more carbon sinks, efforts will be made in forestation so that the forest coverage rate across the nation will reach 23.04 percent by 2020.

Urbanization featuring intelligent, green and low carbon development will be underway while the nation promotes a low carbon modern transportation system.

Effective recycling and disposal of household wastes and the promotion of a low carbon lifestyle will also contribute to the nation’s growing efforts in promoting low carbon green development.

The nation will also witness the establishment of a carbon emission trading system which will cover eight industrial sectors such as petrochemical, steel, paper making, and aviation industries.

Efforts will also be made to encourage low carbon technology innovation, formulate related laws, regulations and standard systems, and carry out international cooperation.