China declared it will voluntarily reduce its economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 7% to 10% from its peak level by 2035, in its attempts to fulfill the requirements of the Paris Agreement. It asked other countries to also “step up actions to realize the beautiful vision of harmony between man and nature and preserve planet earth.”

The announcement was made by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his virtual address to the United Nations Climate Summit, which was held alongside the ongoing UNGA summit in New York on Wednesday, September 24.

The summit was hosted by UN Secretary General António Guterres along with Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

Brazil is the host of the next COP30 conference in November.

This is the first commitment of its kind made by China, which is now the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases at the global forum – mainly due to its massive population of 1.4 billion and decades of rapid industrialization. The commitment renews hope in the success of the world’s attempts to fight climate change.

Reminding the world that 2025 marks a decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, Xi also urged other nations to announce their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to global greenhouse emissions.

The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, seeks to arrest the rise in the global temperature to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, with voluntary cuts in emissions and financial compensation for developing countries losing resources and opportunities while adopting climate-friendly measures.

Pointing out the uneven state of the global economy, Xi emphasized that “fairness and equity should be upheld and the right to development of developing countries fully respected” while drawing climate goals.

The appeal was also repeated by Guterres and other speakers in the summit who highlighted how the threats of climate catastrophe are rising, along with the rise in the global temperature and greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking during the summit, leading climate scientists Johan Rockström and Katharine Hayhoe appealed to the nations to shift their reliance on fossil fuels and focus on renewable energy, along with protecting vital forests.

Climate-adaptive society

President Xi declared that China aims to create a “climate-adaptive society” and in order to achieve that goal it is going to increase the share of non-fossil fuel in its total energy consumption to above 30% by 2035.

In addition to the shifts from fossil fuel, expansion in the installed capacity of wind and solar power will be made with the objective of achieving over six times higher energy production from these resources from 2020 levels. China aims to increase the renewable energy production capacity to 3,600 gigawatts by 2035.

China will also intensify efforts to drive innovation in electric vehicles production, aiming to make it mainstream, along with increasing its forest cover and expanding the national carbon emission trading mission.

Xi also urged for greater international cooperation to achieve the climate goals, noting that “the global green transition should serve to narrow rather than widen the North-South gap.”

Historically, developed countries in the West, namely, the US, and Europe have been the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. However, there has been hesitation and reluctance from them in fulfilling their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Some of the Western countries have demanded more commitments from the developing countries, while President Donald Trump has openly promoted climate skepticism and refused to adhere to the Paris agreement.

“Countries need to honor the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, whereby developed countries should take the lead in fulfilling emission reduction obligations and provide more financial and technological support to developing countries,” Xi demanded.

Answering a question regarding Xi’s announcement, Guo Jiakun, official spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday that it was yet another example of his country’s “commitments to multilateralism and support to the UN.”

President Lula, while asking the countries to come prepared to attend the COP30 at Belém in Brazil, also announced his country’s commitments to reducing the greenhouse gas emission between 59% and 67% by 2035 and to end deforestation by 2030.

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