There are many scientific considerations behind putting forward these two time nodes, including the process of industrialization and urbanization, the "two-step" goal of China's modernization, the changing trend of carbon emissions, technological progress, and China's image as a big country participating in global climate governance.
First, based on the scientific judgment of the CPC Central Committee on the process of industrialization and urbanization in China. Generally speaking, the historical task of industrialization and urbanization in China has not been completed, and the problem of insufficient development imbalance is still outstanding. Although the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has announced that China has completely completed the task of getting rid of poverty and entered a well-off society in an all-round way, it still maintains its policy of supporting poverty-stricken areas for five years to consolidate the achievements of getting rid of poverty.
The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the "two-step" goal of modernization: from 2020 to 2035, socialist modernization will be basically realized, all people will take a solid step of common prosperity, the gap between urban and rural regional development and the gap between residents' living standards will be significantly narrowed, the ecological environment will be fundamentally improved, and the goal of beautiful China will be basically realized; From 2035 to the middle of this century, all the people will basically achieve prosperity and build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful socialist modernization power. Completing the historical task of industrialization and urbanization is not only the goal of the leaders of our Party to lead the people of China, but also the development stage that every country must go through in its modernization. At this stage, the increase of energy consumption, pollutants, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions is inevitable and in line with the law of development.
Second, based on the understanding that transformation is a slow process. Whether it is the optimization of energy structure, the decline of carbon emission intensity or the progress of technology, it can not be completed in a short time. Since 2005, China's energy structure has been continuously optimized. The proportion of coal in energy consumption decreases by more than one percentage point every year, and the proportion of non-fossil energy also increases by more than one percentage point every year. 20 19 Central Economic Work Conference proposed that the Tenth Five-Year Plan is the key period and window period to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality in peak carbon dioxide emissions. It is necessary to gradually close the "door" for the development of industries with high energy consumption, heavy pollution and high carbon emissions, and open the "window" for the development of non-fossil energy and low carbon industries.
First, China has entered the window of energy structure optimization and adjustment. Due to resource endowment, China's primary energy structure is dominated by coal, which not only has low utilization efficiency and heavy environmental pollution, but also has high dependence on oil and gas, reaching 73% and 43% respectively in 2020, affecting energy security. The carbon-neutral target orientation of carbon dioxide emission peak can fundamentally optimize China's energy structure and change its excessive dependence on high-quality energy such as oil and gas. "The rice bowl of energy must be in your own hands".
Second, China has entered a critical period of reducing pollution, reducing carbon and increasing efficiency. Pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions are closely related to energy production and consumption, and energy, pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions occur at the same time and have the same root. Only by optimizing the energy structure and achieving pollution reduction, carbon reduction and efficiency improvement can we move towards the grand goal of "protecting the earth as the only home", and the carbon neutrality of the peak carbon dioxide emission has thus become a new milestone in the construction of beautiful China.
Third, the goal of achieving carbon neutrality at the peak of carbon dioxide emissions depends on innovation. Systematic economic and social change cannot be achieved overnight, and it needs theoretical innovation, technological innovation, institutional innovation and cultural innovation, and the joint efforts of all sectors of society, so it also needs a process. In order to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality at the peak of carbon dioxide emission, technological innovation is particularly needed to realize the deep decarbonization of energy, especially the power industry, produce abundant clean energy at low cost and high efficiency, develop carbon capture, utilization and storage technology (CCUS), promote the high-quality development of manufacturing industry, realize the green and low-carbon transformation of energy structure, industrial structure, transportation structure and lifestyle, advocate the formation of green lifestyle, and embody it in people's daily life.
Thirdly, based on the improvement of China's economic strength, it is an inevitable choice to gradually move towards the center of the world stage and establish the image of a responsible big country.
Since 20 10, China's economic aggregate has jumped to the second place in the world and has remained so far, and the gap with the American economy is narrowing. In 2020, China's GDP will be about 70% of that of the United States. In recent years, the contribution rate of China's economic growth to world economic growth has remained at around 30%. At the same time, the development of China is facing a great change, and the opportunities and challenges it faces have changed. This requires us to have international standards and global vision, turn pressure into motivation and open up a new situation in the process of change. Compared with the carbon emission reduction target since the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, the dual-carbon target put forward by China in September 2020 is more ambitious, with clearer measures and more difficult to achieve. Compared with China's previous position of emphasizing the status of developing countries and low per capita carbon emissions in the international negotiations on climate change, the carbon-neutral target of the peak carbon dioxide emissions has undergone a fundamental change, and its pressure and leading by example are more obvious, which marks the positive change of China from passive response to independent contribution in the international negotiations on climate change, and will also increase China's voice in the global climate governance system.
In short, the "3060" carbon target is a major strategic decision made by the CPC Central Committee after careful consideration.