The world today is suffering from increasingly serious natural and man-made disasters. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned in a new report that global warming is on the verge of breaching the key threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. This means that climate-related disasters on Earth are likely to increase further.
According to the UN report, only about 12% of the SDGS are on track to be achieved by 2030, the annual funding gap for achieving the SDGS has widened from $2.5 trillion before the pandemic to more than $4 trillion, and developed countries have still not met their pledge to provide $100 billion in climate finance to developing countries each year.
"China's performance in [achieving] the Sustainable Development Goals and [building] a net-zero economy stands out in a disappointing global process," According to a report released by the World Economic Forum in June 2023, as one of the world's largest energy producers and consumers, China ranks 17th among 120 countries and regions in the Energy Transition Index ranking, becoming a rare major emerging economy among the top 20.
China achieved this achievement by actively promoting the use of alternative energy sources with strong planning and execution capabilities. Article for example, in 2022, China's renewable energy installed capacity of 152 million kilowatts, the actual consumption of renewable energy in the country accounted for 31.6% of the total social electricity consumption; In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 Sustainable Development Goals as its core. In early 2016, China set up an inter-ministerial coordination mechanism composed of 45 member institutions to coordinate the implementation of the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Through financial transfer payments and adequate training of personnel at all levels, China's governance system creates suitable conditions for effective management of public projects. China has put in place a "1+N" policy system for peaking carbon neutrality, with targets set by the central government and implemented by provinces and municipalities at different levels. From 2012 to 2020, China has invested nearly 1.6 trillion yuan in special poverty alleviation funds at all levels of government, and trained a large number of local officials and technical experts. Since 2020, the central government has allocated more than 110 billion yuan to support the building of medical and health institutions at all levels across the country.
In addition, state-owned enterprises such as Sinopec and State Grid are also actively contributing to the national carbon reduction target. The article mentioned that Sinopec has built China's largest direct green hydrogen production project for photovoltaic power generation in Kuqa, Xinjiang; State Grid and other power companies have developed carbon credit trading, issued "carbon neutral" bonds, and invested heavily in clean energy. China's development model holds valuable lessons for many countries that have lagged in achieving the Sustainable Goals.
Since 2021, China's green bond issuance has jumped to the second place in the world, second only to the United States. China's economies of scale in some areas of energy-saving and low-carbon production have benefited the world, but it has faced additional tariff pressure from the European Union and other regions on exports of products such as new energy vehicles. Such tariffs risk restricting investment in the energy transition. The article warns that the lack of a global consensus will certainly hinder progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
