China is cutting emissions, why doesn't the West see this?

Editor's Note: Seymur Mammadov is the director of the international expert club EurAsiaAz and editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan's news agency Vzglyad.az. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Climate change is a global problem that affects the whole of humanity and somehow affects all living things and ongoing processes on the planet. Therefore, counteraction to these negative processes is a universal task and, perhaps, even one of the primary ones. However, as often happens, instead of constructively solving the problem, political interests prevailed.

The other day, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke out on the results of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25), which was held in Madrid. The Secretary General could not hide his disappointment.

"The magnitude of the climate emergency is jeopardizing our future and life as we know it. I have come back to #COP25 to appeal for a successful conclusion of the conference and increased #ClimateAction and ambition", he wrote on Twitter.

Instead of taking concrete action, many countries are accusing each other. And under fire of criticism, China was again. So, some countries and activists have blamed China for not improving their current plans to reduce emissions. Although in reality, if you look at it, China is actively working on its commitments and even shows unprecedented results, which the West prefers modestly to keep silent.

It is hard to say why so many countries do not like China's work in this direction. However, one thing is clear: a certain template developed in the West is working - "those who are not with us are always wrong."

In general, the global strategy to reduce emissions traces many undercurrents, in which, as in real politics, real wars and confrontations of countries take place. Why? Because the commitment to reduce greenhouse gases is a significant stress impact on the economy of any state, requiring a major restructuring, and dictating growth losses in the short term.

Accordingly, many developed countries actively resist emission reduction commitments, and some simply withdraw from the treaty, calling it a "frivolous document," such as the United States.

In fact, China itself has shown the highest efficiency in reducing emissions, ahead of many countries. For example, based on the facts, in 2018, carbon dioxide emissions in China per unit of GDP decreased by 45.8 percent compared to 2005, which amounts to 5.26 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. China is investing more in renewable energy than any other country. Further, according to satellite data prepared by the U.S. space agency NASA, from 2000 to 2017, about a quarter of the area of ​​the new green zone is in China. To date, 2750 nature reserves have been created in the country.

Along with what has already been achieved, new opportunities to reduce emissions continue to be considered, and new ways are being sought. The fact is that the reduction of the coal mining industry and coal electric power industry negatively affects the economic growth of the country, and additional options for solving the problem that would meet both the global interests and the interests of China are currently being discussed. To a certain extent, an increase in the share of nuclear energy can solve the problem. Therefore, it is not surprising that as part of its plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, China wants to increase its share of nuclear energy to 10 percent over the next decade.

The potential also includes an increase in the supply of Russian gas to China, which will make it possible to switch to a significant degree from coal to gas energy. Thus, the Power of Siberia gas pipeline put into operation will allow China to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Switching to gas fuel will reduce carbon emissions by one and a half times.

As a result of the measures taken by the government, today China has the world's largest modern coal power industry. Environmentally friendly coal combustion technologies have been introduced at coal-fired power plants in accordance with ultra-low emission standards. Based on these same standards, new power units were built. Thus, at the moment, China has low-emission coal power units with a total capacity of over 750 million kW.

Moreover, Tangshan, China's largest steel making center will relocate and modernize 13 steel mills to reduce environmental pollution and energy consumption - all of which show how China is keen on reducing carbon emissions. And today, Beijing is investing a lot more money to reduce environmental damage from carbon dioxide than countries that criticize China. Not every country can boast of the amount of financial resources invested in the fight against air pollution.

The Chinese government has developed a goal of reducing emissions and is ready to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40-45 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 emissions. It is possible to list the volumes made by China in this area for a long time, and all this says one thing - Beijing is taking active measures to save the atmosphere and restore the temperature balance, demonstrating the highest will and determination that many participants in the Paris Summit and the Kyoto Protocol are definitely lacking.