{"id":178159,"date":"2021-12-15T11:25:48","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T10:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=178159"},"modified":"2021-12-15T11:25:49","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T10:25:49","slug":"china-begins-walking-back-promises-to-reduce-pollution-in-the-2030s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=178159","title":{"rendered":"China Begins Walking Back Promises to Reduce Pollution in the 2030s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communist China frequently placates climate activists by promising to cut pollution in the 2030s and strive for \u201ccarbon neutrality\u201d by 2060.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Monday <\/strong><\/em>quoted<\/em><\/a> senior Chinese officials already walking back those promises, recasting them as vague aspirations that might have to be put on hold until Beijing achieves its industrial goals.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The climate change movement has always been remarkably credulous when it comes to China. At the big COP26 \u201cclimate summit\u201d in Scotland in October, China actually \u201cpledged\u201d to increase its carbon pollution over the coming decade \u2013 but the response was mostly <\/em>muted grumbling<\/em><\/a> from activists who demand immense short-term sacrifices from the Western world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the conclusion of the Glasgow summit, the Biden administration <\/em>released<\/em><\/a> a joint statement on reducing carbon emissions with Beijing, hailed by climate envoy John Kerry as a \u201croadmap for our future collaboration.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two months later, the Chinese are backing away from that road map, as the SCMP reported:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing a forum in Beijing on Saturday, former finance minister Lou Jiwei said that while China had said it would \u201cstrive to\u201d reach peak carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, there was a difference between this and \u201censuring [those targets would be achieved]\u201d.<\/p>

\u201cWe are a developing country. We should bear common but differentiated responsibilities that are different from developed countries,\u201d Lou told the gathering organised by the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges.<\/p>

Han Wenxiu, from the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, was similarly cautious, saying the two targets were complex and long-term tasks that required full consideration of the country\u2019s energy and industrial structure.<\/p>

\u201c[The carbon targets] should not affect the country\u2019s overall economic and social development,\u201d Han said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The day before those comments were made, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and his Politburo issued a statement that said reaching carbon neutrality will require \u201cunwavering efforts,\u201d but success \u201ccan\u2019t be achieved in just one battle.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same statement made it clear that China will not stop burning coal to generate electricity. The Chinese are currently <\/em>pouring<\/em><\/a> record amounts of coal into record numbers of power plants to meet the soaring energy needs of their industrial sector. As several Chinese analysts explained to the SCMP, critical power shortages in the latter half of 2021 frightened communist leaders away from any thoughts they might have been entertaining about eliminating coal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWind and solar power account for about 9 percent of China\u2019s electricity generation. The dominant role of coal in China\u2019s power and energy structure cannot be changed in a short time,\u201d Lin Boqiang of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University explained.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ma Jun of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing said the statement by Xi and the Politburo on Friday was a sign that \u201creplacements have not been building up and we cannot phase out fossil fuels in a quick way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SCMP\u2019s quotes from Chinese officials make it plain that China\u2019s willingness to compromise its industrial power in the name of climate change is questionable, there is no real plan in Beijing to hit \u201cpeak carbon\u201d in 2030 or \u201czero-carbon\u201d in 2060, and \u2013 even if Communist Party leaders do become interested in keeping the promises they made to the Biden administration \u2013 the sheer inertia of all that coal mining and coal plant construction would be hard to overcome, even for iron-fisted tyrants. After all, China still <\/em>plans to build<\/em><\/a> dozens more coal-fired plants next year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/environment\/2021\/12\/13\/china-begins-walking-back-promises-reduce-pollution-2030s\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only thing that surprises me is that anybody should be surprised by this latest backtracking!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DECEMBER 15, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nChina Begins Walking Back Promises to Reduce Pollution in the 2030s<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul Homewood Communist China frequently placates climate activists by promising to cut pollution in the 2030s and strive for \u201ccarbon neutrality\u201d by 2060. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Monday quoted senior Chinese officials already walking back those promises, recasting them as vague aspirations that might have to be put on hold until Beijing achieves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","has-post-thumbnail","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-Klx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":405245,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=405245","url_meta":{"origin":178159,"position":0},"title":"China Promises Tiny Cuts In GHG\u00a0Emissions","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Xi commits China to its first ever emissions targets, reports the Telegraph, but is his promise worth anything?","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMgsiZdV7us-qo4A_U5hoU6xoW4WXJl4RfFniUqiCT4cDYzM93Wh5jT1Jw0mSvIkp2yDyP6v087MqW41SHkQrSA1ArJ3k6_FPFPddrRG2n070K48B5Zbn6wks-vlASZ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMgsiZdV7us-qo4A_U5hoU6xoW4WXJl4RfFniUqiCT4cDYzM93Wh5jT1Jw0mSvIkp2yDyP6v087MqW41SHkQrSA1ArJ3k6_FPFPddrRG2n070K48B5Zbn6wks-vlASZ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMgsiZdV7us-qo4A_U5hoU6xoW4WXJl4RfFniUqiCT4cDYzM93Wh5jT1Jw0mSvIkp2yDyP6v087MqW41SHkQrSA1ArJ3k6_FPFPddrRG2n070K48B5Zbn6wks-vlASZ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMgsiZdV7us-qo4A_U5hoU6xoW4WXJl4RfFniUqiCT4cDYzM93Wh5jT1Jw0mSvIkp2yDyP6v087MqW41SHkQrSA1ArJ3k6_FPFPddrRG2n070K48B5Zbn6wks-vlASZ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMgsiZdV7us-qo4A_U5hoU6xoW4WXJl4RfFniUqiCT4cDYzM93Wh5jT1Jw0mSvIkp2yDyP6v087MqW41SHkQrSA1ArJ3k6_FPFPddrRG2n070K48B5Zbn6wks-vlASZ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":404814,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=404814","url_meta":{"origin":178159,"position":1},"title":"China trumps Trump at UN! China makes \u2018landmark pledge to cut its climate emissions\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In a consequential move for the global climate, China committed Wednesday to reduce its planet-warming pollution by 7% to 10% from peak levels over the next decade. China\u2019s new economy-wide goal takes on outsized importance given the country is both the biggest emitter of global warming pollutants and by far\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"BBC News\"","block_context":{"text":"BBC News","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bbc-news"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQN1sReRRavT7mMbdStKV9X1msdhAD6C9Te2fwZZbnsuROfxOA9carvlTABKxI_v6kmXAWwYj2XUK9InmmCI79_Kg87djETJa3QumY4ESHZZPh6V9pt__IHIsxZGU_r1dElAtlutlTWo-UAAP_vIYxqwcbI5-A.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQN1sReRRavT7mMbdStKV9X1msdhAD6C9Te2fwZZbnsuROfxOA9carvlTABKxI_v6kmXAWwYj2XUK9InmmCI79_Kg87djETJa3QumY4ESHZZPh6V9pt__IHIsxZGU_r1dElAtlutlTWo-UAAP_vIYxqwcbI5-A.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQN1sReRRavT7mMbdStKV9X1msdhAD6C9Te2fwZZbnsuROfxOA9carvlTABKxI_v6kmXAWwYj2XUK9InmmCI79_Kg87djETJa3QumY4ESHZZPh6V9pt__IHIsxZGU_r1dElAtlutlTWo-UAAP_vIYxqwcbI5-A.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQN1sReRRavT7mMbdStKV9X1msdhAD6C9Te2fwZZbnsuROfxOA9carvlTABKxI_v6kmXAWwYj2XUK9InmmCI79_Kg87djETJa3QumY4ESHZZPh6V9pt__IHIsxZGU_r1dElAtlutlTWo-UAAP_vIYxqwcbI5-A.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQN1sReRRavT7mMbdStKV9X1msdhAD6C9Te2fwZZbnsuROfxOA9carvlTABKxI_v6kmXAWwYj2XUK9InmmCI79_Kg87djETJa3QumY4ESHZZPh6V9pt__IHIsxZGU_r1dElAtlutlTWo-UAAP_vIYxqwcbI5-A.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":246223,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=246223","url_meta":{"origin":178159,"position":2},"title":"China approves two new coal plants every week to ensure stability \u201cwhen renewables fail\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe speed at which projects progressed through permitting to construction in 2022 was extraordinary.\u201d","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-996.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-996.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-996.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-996.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-996.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":162000,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=162000","url_meta":{"origin":178159,"position":3},"title":"Are China\u2019s climate promises just a load of hot air? (Yes!)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/09\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"By Paul Homewood China is prepared to hold its cooperation on climate issues hostage to Western concessions elsewhere. Few cities in China represent the country\u2019s addiction to coal more than Tianjin, where Alok Sharma travelled this week to talk about cooperation on climate issues. It sits on the coast of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/0image_thumb-56.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/0image_thumb-56.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/0image_thumb-56.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/0image_thumb-56.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":380977,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=380977","url_meta":{"origin":178159,"position":4},"title":"Who Knew? Trump Tariffs Good for\u00a0Environment","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"31\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"China\u2019s dominant production of rare earth elements (REE) has led to significant environmental degradation.","rel":"","context":"In \"China\u2019s pollution-heavy rare earth industry\"","block_context":{"text":"China\u2019s pollution-heavy rare earth industry","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=chinas-pollution-heavy-rare-earth-industry"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0457-1.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0457-1.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0457-1.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0457-1.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG_0457-1.png?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":224651,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=224651","url_meta":{"origin":178159,"position":5},"title":"Bjorn Lomborg: Electric Car Subsidies Are a Bad Investment","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"He demonstrates that subsidies for electric vehicles are hugely disproportionate to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions prevented.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1a0ba38fce63a435723.png?fit=640%2C457&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1a0ba38fce63a435723.png?fit=640%2C457&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1a0ba38fce63a435723.png?fit=640%2C457&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=178159"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178163,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178159\/revisions\/178163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=178159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=178159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=178159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}