China Releases White Paper and Convenes Press Conference on Climate Change Ahead of COP26
Highlights Include Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases
27 October 2021 – China released a white paper entitled Responding to Climate Change: China's Policies and Actions with examples of the country’s actions and achievements to date in addressing climate change, in preparation for the 26th annual negotiations of the United Nations climate change conference (COP26).
Highlights from the White Paper include non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs), with particular focus on HFCs and methane:
- China provided subsidies for HFC-23 destruction during 2014-2019 in the total amount of 1.4 billion yuan (about 219 million USD) for the destruction of 65,300 tonnes of HFC-23 (equivalent to 966 million tonnes of carbon dioxide);
- China is promoting the development of environmentally-friendly refrigerants and the reuse and safe treatment of [recycled] refrigerants, in accordance with the Regulation on Administration of Ozone Depleting Substances and the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer;
- China is supporting enterprise deployment of air-conditioner production lines using low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants;
- China is accelerating the phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and controlling the use of HFCs;
- China accepted the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer on 17 June 2021; and
- Chinese oil and gas enterprises established an alliance to control methane emissions.
In a State Council press conference convened on the same day (27 October 2021), the Ministry of Ecology and Environment listed the following action items as the next steps:
- China will actively implement the climate-change targets provided in its 14th Five-Year Plan;*
- China will promulgate and implement policies to achieve its carbon-peaking and carbon-neutrality goals;
- China will promulgate an Implementation Plan for Synergy and Efficiency in Pollution Control and Carbon Reduction;
- China will promulgate an Interim Regulation on the Management of Carbon Emission Trading and gradually expand the coverage of its carbon market to more high-emission industries;
- China will establish mechanisms for greenhouse gas data accounting and management, as well as long-term mechanisms for [climate-related] treaty compliance;
- China will enhance public awareness of and promote green and low-carbon lifestyles;
- China will promulgate a strategy for national climate-change adaption by 2035; and
- China will actively participate in international negotiations on climate change and continue to carry out South-South climate-change cooperation.
* For further details on the provisions and targets on non-CO2 GHGs and natural carbon sinks in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, see IGSD briefing: China’s 14th Five-Year Plan: Overview of Provisions Related to Climate Change; Non-CO2 GHGs, Including SLCPs and Natural Carbon Sinks.
Additional IGSD China resources:
- IGSD, China Announces Plans to Further Implement Kigali Amendment to Phasedown HFCs (16 October 2021).
- IGSD, China Takes Steps to Address HFC-23 Emissions in Advance of International Ozone Day (15 September 2021).
- A. Phadke et al., Chinese policy leadership would cool global air conditioning impacts: Looking East, Energy Resource & Social Science (August 2020).
- IGSD, China Regulation on the Administration of Ozone Depleting Substances and Hydrofluorocarbons (Draft Amendment for Comments) (original Chinese and English reference translation) (21 May 2020).
- IGSD, China Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan (original Chinese and English reference translation) (13 June 2019).
- X. Sun & T. Ferris, The Kigali Amendment’s and China’s Critical Roles in Evolving the Montreal Protocol, Natural Resources & Environment (Fall 2018).