The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers 17 goals, the thirteenth of which is “Climate action”, namely: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Under this major goal, there are five targets, the 13.2 of which is “Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.”

●Current Situation

About the World

Countries around the world focus on “implementation” of the Paris Agreement

From November 6 to 18, 2022, the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. At the COP27 Summit, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told all countries that mankind is facing a serious choice: Either work together to reduce emissions now, or let future generations suffer from climate disasters. The secretariat of the convention said that the current session of the conference focused on “implementation” and expected countries to elaborate on how to implement the Paris Agreement through legislation, policies, projects and other means.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s special envoy for climate change affairs, pointed out that China has established a leading agency for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, established a “1+N” policy system, formulated a medium and long-term greenhouse gas emission control strategy, promoted the construction of a national carbon emission trading market, and prepared and implemented a national strategy for adapting to climate change.

In his speech, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi urged leaders of all countries to pay attention to the priorities of the African continent, uphold the principle of “common responsibility” and let people believe that they are capable of achieving the climate goals.

The EU will work with developed countries to ensure that their funding for climate change adaptation will be doubled by 2025 from 2019, and that they will increase their contributions to climate finance to achieve the target of US $100 billion a year. The EU contributed 23.04 billion euros in 2021 for the target, which is a stable and the largest contribution to date.

The United States put forward four priority goals and pledged to support the United Nations Secretary-General's proposal to provide early warning systems for all climate-vulnerable countries within five years.

The UK is fulfilling its commitment to provide 11.6 billion pounds of climate financial support every year, and will increase the part used for climate change adaptation, so that the climate adaptation funds will double to 1.5 billion pounds in 2025.

French President EmmanuelMarcon referred to a plan put forward by Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley in September and expressed his willingness to work with her to set up a “think tank” to make recommendations for reforming the global financial system, and support trillions of dollars of climate capital transfer, making positive contributions to resolving the problem of capital transfer between rich and poor countries and promoting the negotiations on climate change.

Germany promised to provide 170 million euros ofaids to combat climate risks, and pledged to increase Germany’s funds for global forest protection from 1 billion euros to 2 billion euros. The source of funds is the annual funds to deal with climate change, which is expected to increase from 5.3 billion euros to 6 billion euros by 2025. Chancellor Olaf Schultz stressed that Germany would phase out fossil fuels “unconditionally.”

Source: key.sdg-china.net

About China

China has incorporated climate change into its plan of national economic and social development

China is the largest developing country with a population of more than 1.4 billion, and faces a series of arduous tasks, such as developing the economy, improving people’s livelihood, pollution control, and ecological protection. Nevertheless, in order to achieve the goal of addressing climate change, China has faced up to the difficulties and actively formulated and implemented a series of strategies, regulations, policies, standards and actions, promoting China’s practice of addressing climate change to make new progress.

The work of tackling climate change covers a wide range and involves many fields. To strengthen coordination and form joint forces, China has established a national leading group for tackling climate change, energy conservation and emission reduction, with the premier of the State Council as the group leader and 30 relevant ministries and commissions as members. All provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government have established provincial leading groups for tackling climate change, energy conservation and emission reduction. China has also incorporated tackling climate change into the plan of national economic and social development. Since the“12th Five-Year Plan,” China has included the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions (carbon emission intensity) per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) as a binding indicator in the outline of its plan of national economic and social development, and has made clear the key tasks, important areas and major projects to address climate change. China’s “14th Five-Year Plan” and the 2035 long-term goal outline take “CO2 emissions per unit of GDP in 2025 will be reduced by 18 percent compared with 2020”as a binding indicator. All provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalitiesdirectly under the Central Government in China have made addressing climate change an important part of the “14th Five-Year Plan” and made clear specific objectives and tasks.

To continuously strengthen the goal of independent contribution, China announcedin 2020 the new goal of national independent contribution: China’s carbon dioxide emissions will reach the peak by 2030, andChina will strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Source: cankaowang.com

●Cases

About the World

Global Alliance of Universities on Climate launches the global action of ‘Climate x’ Campaign

The Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC) officially launched the ‘Climate x’ Campaign. It aims to enhance the global public’s awareness of climate change and carbon-neutral goals by mobilizing youth actions, and explore innovative solutions through cross-border cooperation from the perspective of synergy between climate change and other Sustainable Development Goals. The launch ceremony was held at the same time at Tsinghua University, Paris Institute of Political Studies, and Stellen bosch University in South Africa. It was broadcast live worldwide, and nearly 270,000 people watched it online.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said, “This is a time of enormous challenges. Our health and well-being, peace and prosperity, and nature itself are under threat. The most pressing problems confronting nations are ultimately global in nature, and they demand global solutions. The focus of the 'Climate x' campaign is an excellent example of this.”

Five young ambassadors from the Paris Institute of Political Studies Tsinghua University and the Indian Institute of Technology organized a mini round-table discussion to express their visions of a zero-carbon future.

Source: chinanews.com

Cities and universities jointly build an alliance against climate change

In 2011, Edward Glaeser, an economist at Harvard University, pointed out that cities are the healthiest, greenest and richest places. In New York, people live longer and healthier, and their energy consumption is 40 percent less than that in the suburbs. However, cities and metropolitan areas in the 21st century will undergo great changes in technology, environment and society. Climate change and the resulting health risks pose major risks to cities and towns: Every year, the number of deaths due to air pollution alone is as high as 3 million to 9 million - equivalent to one in five people in the world dying from air pollution. This is three times higher than the death rate of COVID-19 (3 million people are estimated to die due to the COVID-19 epidemic).

Cities and universities are working together in unprecedented ways to resist the growing climate crisis. As the main provider of political institutions and public services around residents, cities are overcoming the challenge of climate change by promoting sustainable development, increasing participation and eliminating inequality. More and more colleges and universities have joined this camp, aiming to identify the characteristics of climate change, develop the best tools to cope with climate change, and incorporate them into various initiatives launched by the government by increasing investment in research and training. In the face of these common goals, cities and universities are further playing a synergistic role.

For example, Marseille, located in southern France, is cooperating with Aix-Marseille University to jointly review local travel, energy and biodiversity conservation policies. Marseille is a model of cooperation between cities and universities on climate and sustainable development issues. In April 2022, out of 377 cities that submitted applications, Marseille was selected by the European Commission to became one of the “100climate-neutral cities by 2030”built by the European Union. To achieve this goal, Marseille will focus on transportation and travel, thermal energy transformation of buildings and public facilities, sustainable energy production, natural return of the city, protection of coastline and biodiversity, and inclusive and innovative development. To meet this challenge, Marseille and Aix-Marseille University jointly established a carbon neutral project.

Source: jiemian.com

About China

The system of “1+N”policies for carbon peak and carbon neutralization has been established, taking into account of development and emission reduction

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s environmental quality has been significantly improved, the quality and stability of the ecosystem has been steadily improved, the industrial structure has been significantly optimized and upgraded, the green and low-carbon transformation of energy has been significantly improved, the efficiency of energy and resources utilization has been significantly improved, and the reform of the ecological civilization system has been further advanced. The concept of “clear waters and green mountains are invaluable assets” is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the system of ecological civilization has basically taken shape. China has made a solemn commitment to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, and has established a system of “1+N” policies to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The green transformation of industries and the adjustment of the energy structure have been vigorously promoted, the construction of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic bases has been accelerated, the blind development of high-energy-consumption, high-emission and low-level projects has been resolutely curbed, and the energy consumption per unit of GDP has decreased by about 26.2 percent.

The Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job of Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutralization, issued on October 24, 2021, as the “1” in the system of “1+N” policies for carbon peak and carbon neutralization, plays a programmatic role in guiding and coordinating the “double carbon”work. The Action Plan for Carbon Peak Before 2030, which was released on October 26, as the first document in the “N” policies, plays a leading role in the subsequent series of policies. After the “double carbon” top-level design framework was clarified, all relevant departments formulated implementation plans and supporting policies in different fields and industries, and all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government have formulated their implementation plans for carbon peak. At present, the system of “1+N” policies for carbon peak and carbon neutralization has been established.

Source:21jingji.com

A pilot demonstration! Shenzhen issues the 14th Five-Year Plan to address climate change

The Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecological Environment and the Shenzhen Municipal Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the “14th Five-Year Plan” of Shenzhen to Cope with Climate Change. Based on the systematic analysis of the current situation of climate change and the opportunities and challenges faced, the plan clarifies the main objectives, key tasks and major projects of Shenzhen’s tackling of climate change during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, speeds up the construction of an economic systemof green, low-carbon and circular development, comprehensively improves the overall capacity and level of the city’s response to climate change, and actively responds to climate change with leading and demonstration standards. Shenzhen will comprehensively deepen all kinds of low-carbon pilot demonstration, explore the path of “near-zero carbon” construction with Shenzhen characteristics, and form a series of new models and scenarios integrating green low-carbon technology and intelligent management. By 2025, a total of 100 pilot projects with near-zero carbon emissions will be built.

Source: southcn.com

●Background

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Initiated by the United Nations

On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 169 targets, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.