Commentary: China makes tangible, self-motivated efforts to fight climate change

While world leaders are making last-ditch efforts Saturday to seal a powerful accord in Paris, China is assuring the world of its great resolution in the global climate campaign with tangible and self-motivated efforts as well as solemn commitment.

China, as a responsible developing country, has been pushing its limits to contribute to the global fight against climate change.

At the opening ceremony of the Paris climate summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated China's pledge made in June to cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, and increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent and peak its carbon emissions by the same date.

The announcement of the 2030 goal reflects China's resolution to follow a path of green and low-carbon development, which is China's only choice if it is to realize sustainable growth.

As a matter of fact, China is quite self-motivated when it comes to fighting climate change.

With a large population, China is facing increasing resource constraints, severe environmental pollution and a deteriorating ecosystem, and its citizens are also becoming increasingly aware of environmental problems.

Suffering environmental woes and seeing the endeavor as crucial to shifting its economic growth mode, the country has much at stake if climate change is left unattended.

As observers have pointed out, for today's China, fighting climate change "is not at the request of others, but on its own initiative."

Actually, climate change efforts are already integrated into China's medium- and long-term program of economic and social development, and ecological endeavors feature prominently in China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

China will, on the basis of technological and institutional innovation, adopt new policy measures to improve the industrial mix, build a low-carbon system, develop green building and low-carbon transportation and establish a nationwide carbon-emission trading market, Xi said.

Although it is and will be a developing country for a long time to come, China has been actively engaged in the global campaign against climate change, now topping the world in terms of energy conservation and utilization of new and renewable energies.

However, China's development rights need to be respected. It is unfair to hype up China's status as one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters and hold it to the major bulk of responsibilities in the global fight against climate change.

It is noteworthy that China's per-capita emissions of greenhouse gases are far lower than those of developed countries, especially the United States, although rapid economic expansion and its population base have made it one of the biggest producers of the gases.

As Xi stressed at the Paris conference, it is necessary to accommodate the national conditions of various countries and lay emphasis on practical results when it comes to the fight against climate change, and the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities," instead of being obsolete, must continue to be adhered to.

During Xi's state visit to the United States in September, China and the United States issued a second joint statement on climate change, following their first in November 2014, demonstrating that the world's top two economies will work together to tackle the global challenge.

To show its great resolution, Beijing in September also announced the establishment of an independent South-South cooperation fund of 20 billion RMB (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) to help developing countries affected by global warming.

While China is earnestly fulfilling its policy commitments, developed countries should stop questioning China's commitment to combating climate change and pointing fingers, and start assuming their due responsibilities instead. Endi