China's climate goals to boost opportunities in clean energy: UN official

BEIJING - China's climate change targets for the next couple of decades will provide investmentopportunities worth $2.5 trillion in the non-fossil energy sector, an official from the United Nations(UN) said on Wednesday.

Rae Kwon Chung, principal advisor on climate change of the UN Secretary-General, made theestimate during the China Summit on Caring for Climate hosted by the UN Global CompactNetwork China.

He expects Chinese enterprises will vigorously join the battle against climate change.In an action plan submitted to the UN at the end of June, China promised to cut carbon dioxideemissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60 percent to 65 percent from the 2005 level by 2030 and expand the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption toaround 20 percent from the 11.2-percent ratio in 2014.During the summit, UN officials applauded China's strong will and efforts in fighting climatechange and urged all countries in the world to take action.

"The targets are ambitious, impressive and of high standard," Chung said. "China has shownstrong political will and commitment on climate change, which many countries do not have."

Chung said China has made substantial contribution as it has a track record of over-achievingtargets for energy efficiency and carbon intensity improvement.

Echoing his words, Gavin Power, deputy executive director at the UN Global Compact, said thecountry is showing tremendous leadership in the issue and businesses are also makingtremendous efforts to complement government actions.

China invested around $90 billion in the renewable energy sector last year, more than onequarter of the world's total, Power said. He expects the country to become the world's largestcarbon trading market by 2016.

Chung believes China will make significant contributions to a new climate pact hopefully to bereached during a key UN conference in Paris, scheduled for the end of the year.Chung said the ambitious goals will not be easy and advised the country to combinetechnological and fiscal innovation together to realize its targets.

The world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China has strived to cut greenhouse gas output andsuccessfully lowered carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 33.8 percent from the 2005 level in2014.