Beijing: The carbon peak has been successfully completed, and the carbon neutrality target is clear, which will be ten years ahead of the national target

Recently, various places have a timetable for peaking carbon emissions. Shanghai has proposed to strive for the peak by 2025, and Shenzhen has proposed that by 2025, it will be the first to achieve the peak of carbon dioxide emissions in the Pearl River Delta cities. China strives to achieve carbon peaks by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. This is a major strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee, and it is also China's solemn commitment to the world. Chinese green development presents a bright future.

As the capital of the Olympic City, Beijing quietly reached its peak carbon emission year in 2012. The evaluation shows that since 2013, especially from 2014 to 2015, Beijing's carbon emissions have dropped significantly, and the peak carbon emissions target has been successfully completed.

The total emissions have continued to decline. The reporter has a piece of research data from an authoritative organization. The big data shows that Beijing's carbon emissions have fluctuated and declined in the past eight years. After Beijing's carbon emissions (including aviation) peaked in 2012, thanks to the Clean Air Action Plan implemented since 2013, total carbon emissions dropped significantly from 2014 to 2015. From 2016 to 2019, affected by the rapid growth of aviation emissions, the total emissions rose slightly, but did not exceed the highest value in 2012. Affected by the epidemic in 2020, energy consumption and emissions in air transportation and other fields will drop significantly, and the city's total carbon emissions will continue to decline.

Olympic city, green development. At the beginning of this century, Beijing took the opportunity of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and formed the development strategy of "Humanistic Beijing, Technological Beijing, and Green Beijing". Green has become the background color of urban development. Relevant studies have shown that there are about six conditions required for the peak carbon emissions of international metropolises: Energy efficiency is high, GDP per capita reaches more than 20,000 US dollars, the total population reaches a peak and stabilizes, the urbanization rate reaches more than 75%, the proportion of tertiary industries exceeds 65%, and the environmental quality demands are high. Beijing already has these conditions. At the same time, Beijing has been vigorously promoting the coordinated emission reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gases for many years. The environmental quality has continued to improve, and energy conservation and carbon reduction have always been at the forefront of the country.

Urban development and profound transformation. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country’s ecological civilization construction has undergone historical, turning and overall changes from the realization that practice has taken place. Beijing’s urban development has achieved a profound transformation, reduced development, and formed rigid constraints. In Beijing’s new general plan and the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”and “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” outline, the overall thinking and high-standard goals and tasks of green and low-carbon circular development have been established. At present, the main growth points of Beijing's economy come from industries such as finance and technology, which have the characteristics of low energy consumption, advanced technology, and high added value. In 2020, energy consumption and carbon emissions per 10,000 yuan of GDP will drop to 0.21 tons of standard coal and 0.42 tons of carbon dioxide respectively, which are the best levels in the country.

At present, the Beijing Municipal Research "Carbon Neutrality Action Plan" has matured and will be issued soon. It is understood that Beijing’s proposed carbon neutralization time is 2050, which will be ten years ahead of the national target. In other words, after 30 years of struggle, the capital will be the first to achieve carbon neutrality. In the future, Beijing will gradually realize the “electrification” of terminal energy and the “decarbonization” of power supply, and continue to promote the “oil-to-electricity” of motor vehicles. By 2050, urban transportation will achieve near-zero emissions and the construction sector will basically achieve near-zero emissions.