In a new article for The Conversation, Dr Kai Jiang and Professor Myles Allen from the ECI highlight why China’s latest climate pledge deserves serious attention. Unlike many nations, China rarely makes commitments it doesn’t intend to meet — and its new target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 7–10% by 2035 could have major global implications.
The authors connect this pledge to recent research which outlines a “reality-aligned scenario” showing how global emissions could peak this decade and fall to net zero around 2070, keeping warming below 2°C.
Prof Allen and Jiang, researchers with the Climate Programme at the ECI, and also associates at Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford, argue that China’s pragmatic, delivery-focused approach — already evident in its rapid expansion of renewables and emission reductions — offers a model the rest of the world should watch closely.
Read their article in full in The Conversation: When China makes a climate pledge, the world should listen