Chinese premier Li Keqiang recently unveiled the country’s plan for combating climate change

Chinese premier Li Keqiang recently unveiled the country’s plan for combating climate change. While it could have been more ambitious, the plan shows China’s leaders are serious about changing the country’s development path.

It critically undermines those in the West who claim that climate action should be delayed because China is doing nothing, the Irish Times said.

With China accounting for nearly 30 per cent of global CO2 emissions in 2013, its actions have profound global implications. China’s plan contains a commitment that its CO2 emissions will peak by 2030 or earlier, and that it will reduce the carbon intensity of the economy by between 60 per cent and 65 per cent by 2030. It also contains significant targets for non-fossil energy and forests.

Although most of these were unveiled as part of a joint US-China climate agreement last November, the significance of last month’s announcement lies also in the fact that China made this pledge in the framework of United Nations climate talks leading to a major summit in Paris this December.

China has pledged to make “best efforts” to peak earlier than 2030. This should be interpreted in the light of its approach to target-setting. By and large, it under promises and over delivers. China’s influential Energy Research Institute projects that the peak could come as early as 2020– 2022.

China’s target for non-fossil energy is also significant. It plans to increase renewables and nuclear from 11.4 per cent in 2014 to 20 per cent of primary energy by 2030. This equates to adding 800-1,000 gigawatts, equivalent to the entire current US generating capacity.

There are already promising signs. Chinese consumption of coal – which currently makes up 66 per cent of primary energy consumption – declined in 2014, the report said.