New Climate Plan Accelerates Green Transition

China has released the national climate change response plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), setting clear targets to cut carbon intensity and expand its carbon trading system, as it pushes for a faster and broader green transformation.

The plan, issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and 18 other departments, is the first of its kind to lay out a full set of climate goals across all major sectors at the five-year planning level.

According to the MEE's Department of Climate Change, the plan is designed to reduce climate-related risks and adverse impacts, and ensure both high-quality development and high-level security.

By 2030, the plan aims to:

-Cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 17 percent from 2025 levels;

-Reduce emissions per unit of output in industries covered by the national carbon market by roughly three percent;

-Complete the construction of a national voluntary greenhouse gas reduction trading market;

-Basically put in place a product-level carbon footprint management system.

The plan also calls for tougher controls on non-CO2 greenhouse gases, with a target to reduce them by 30 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. It envisions a more climate-resilient society, with better systems in place to adapt to changing weather patterns and rising climate threats.

If these efforts continue over the following five years, China expects to meet its 2035 nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, paving the way for its long-term goal of carbon neutrality.

Key action areas include cutting CO2 emissions in energy-intensive sectors, building a carbon footprint tracking system, improving climate risk response, stepping up adaptation measures, and playing a more active role in global climate governance.

For the first time, the plan dedicates a full chapter to managing non-CO2 gases — specifically methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. Concrete steps include: expanding coal-mine methane capture and use, promoting water-saving irrigation in rice fields to cut methane, and promoting smarter fertilizer use to limit nitrous oxide emissions from farming.

On the market side, the plan envisions a major digital upgrade of China's national carbon market. It will use Internet of Things technology to build a more accurate carbon data collection network, install over 10,000 monitoring gateways for voluntary emission reduction projects, and unify data management — all to make regulation smarter and more efficient.

In addition, the government will keep updating its national catalogue of low-carbon technologies for promotion, while stepping up support for research and pilot projects on carbon capture, utilization, and storage.  

Source: Science and Technology Daily