China makes pledge to be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2060

In what some commentators are calling a bold and audacious pledge, President Xi announced to the UN that China will be carbon neutral by the year 2060. That gives the world’s second largest economy, and contributor of 28% of global carbon dioxide emissions, four decades to literally clean up their act.

Carbon what? Good question! A carbon neutral economy is one which either has no carbon dioxide emissions at all, or are able to balance their total emissions to zero through carbon removal or carbon offsetting.

As an economy which has seen rapid development in the last three decades, propelling them to their current position as the second largest economy in the world, most of this growth has gone hand in hand with huge amounts of pollution and environmental damage. For this reason, as well as being the planet’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, the message from the Chinese government has attracted a lot of interest.

Whilst there are no specific details on how the Chinese government plan to implement their goal, there is much optimism to draw from the simple fact that this announcement has taken place. For an economy like China, a country which has profited hugely from a gas-guzzling industrial sector, to publicly display such strong support for combatting climate change is a beacon of hope.

It is likely that in the years to come China will initiate a variety of different environmental policies to tackle their carbon emissions and get closer to their 2060 target. In addition to increased investment in renewable energy such as wind and solar, China is also on a mission to rapidly expand the market for electric vehicles, with the government generously subsidising manufacturers of both the cars and batteries.