Green Book on Climate Change: Annual Report on Actions to Address Climate Change Actions (2014) was released in Beijing on November 5. The report focuses on the science and political debate surrounding climate change and China’s response to it.

The report outlined recent achievements worldwide in combating climate change since the 2013 Warsaw Climate Change Conference. China’s progress and challenges in addressing climate change were also investigated in the report, with particular focus given to the predicted peak of carbon emissions in China.

The Synthesis Report of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on November 2 in Copenhagen, Denmark, warned of rising global temperatures and related future risks. The report explored the world’s capacity to handle emissions and proposed a long-term emissions target that would keep the global rise in mean surface temperatures to within 2℃. It also specified development guidelines for energy, transportation, construction, urbanization and other fields.
 

China should strengthen scientific research into climate change, said Zheng Guoguang, administrator of the China Meteorological Administration. Zheng added that China should also be aware of the risks involved in climate change and boost its risk management by promoting domestic low-carbon policies.
 

As a major developing economy, China has actively participated in international climate control by providing constructive suggestions at international climate change negotiations and successfully implementing effective emission-reduction measures. Nevertheless, the size of China’s economy means its total emissions are still considerably great. This intensifies pressure on China at international climate summits, the report found.
 

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) vice president Cai Fang said that China is still in the development phase of its industrialization and urbanization. Economic growth is unfolding in step with improvements to social welfare, Cai added.
 

Cai said China must balance its demand for economic growth with its environmental responsibilities. China has launched low-carbon urban pilot projects in more than 30 cities, with more such cities earmarked. China is seeking a sustainable development pattern suited to its situation, and its recent achievements in coping with climate change shouldn’t be ignored, said Cai.
 

China’s carbon emissions intensity in 2013 decreased by 28.5 percent compared with that of 2005 levels, representing a reduction of 2.5 billon tons. The World Bank found that from 1990 to 2010, China’s total amount of energy savings accounted for 57 percent of the global total. Cai claimed these figures demonstrate that China, as a developing country, not only holds a positive attitude but also has made great efforts to tackle climate change.
 

The report found that by ignoring emissions per capita and only concentrating on emissions by volume, many other countries have downplayed China’s efforts to tackle climate change and urged China to play a bigger role comparable to developed countries. These calls neglect China’s status as a developing country and reflect a discrepancy between duties and obligations, the report found.