Recent progress and emerging strategies for carbon peak and carbon neutrality in China

Abstract

As the global climate crisis intensifies, ecosystems, human society and economic activities are significantly affected. Countries around the world have successively put forward the goal of carbon neutrality or zero carbon. At the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Chinese government explicitly proposed making efforts to reach the goal of Carbon Peak (peak of carbon emissions before 2030) and Carbon Neutrality (Dual Carbon) (carbon neutrality before 2060). In October 2021, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Fully, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concepts to Achieve Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality” and the Action Plan for Achieving Carbon Peak before 2030, specifying the targets and tasks related to achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality in China. As the world's largest developing country, the world's largest manufacturer, and a country with the most complete industrial categories, China will face multiple challenges such as climate change, economic transition, and environmental protection, which requires systematic support from policy, economy, technology, and society. How to achieve the goal will be a great challenge to China's sustainable development. The academic community has conducted extensive exploration on the realization of China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality in many fields, such as energy transformation, industrial structure upgrading, transportation carbon reduction, urban planning and construction, carbon sink enhancement, low-carbon technologies, green finance, and supporting policies. Among them, policy planning and technological innovation are the most important to achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Second, industrial adjustment and enterprise implementation are also important. Therefore, this review will focus on the development status and prospects of policy support, technological innovation, industrial adjustment, and enterprise implementation for achieving dual carbon goals in China. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.