China outperforms its carbon intensity reduction commitment

Without considering emissions absorbed by land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), China has seen remarkable slowdowns in the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions and per capita emissions, according to experts with the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

The greenhouse gas emissions (excluding contributions from LULUCF) in China were equivalent to roughly 13 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2018, said a signed article, which was coauthored by three experts from the center, including Xu Huaqing, the institution's head.

This means that the emissions in the country increased by 3.8 percent a year on average from 2005 to 2018, it said.

From 2017 to 2018, however, the annual growth of the emissions stood at only 1.8 percent, it added.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period, China registered an average growth of 2.1 percent in the emissions and 1.7 percent in the per capita emissions, "both of which are significantly lower than the average annual changes between 2005 and 2020", it noted.

This article also said China's carbon intensity - carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP - in 2020 was 48.4 percent less than that in 2005, which means that China had outperformed its commitment to achieve a 40 to 45 percent reduction in the intensity from the 2005 level by 2020.

The signed article was made public following China submitting its Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change and Fourth National Communication on Climate Change to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change during the tail end of last year.

In 2018, almost 1.26 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent were removed from the atmosphere because of LULUCF, according to the update report.