Global sustainable development is a major challenge facing the world today, and it is particularly important to find a new path that balances economic growth and ecological protection. At present, global sustainable development focuses on key areas such as promoting the development of green economy, promoting the research and development and application of clean energy, improving resource utilization efficiency, and strengthening climate resilience. Looking at the world, countries around the world have gradually formed a consensus on taking the path of sustainable development through continuous exploration through trials and twists and turns, and also confirmed the irreversibility of the global green and low-carbon transformation. As an important contributor to global sustainable development, China has promoted international cooperation and win-win results, injecting new impetus into global sustainable development.
Strengthen international cooperation to promote sustainable development
The International Energy Agency recently released the 2024 World Energy Outlook report, pointing out that in the past 10 years, the proportion of global fossil fuels in the energy mix has dropped from 82% in 2013 to 80% in 2023, while global energy demand has increased by 15% in the same period, of which 40% of the growth has come from clean energy. By 2030, the increase in clean energy is expected to exceed the increase in global electricity demand by 20%, the use of coal by 10%, and the consumption of oil by 50%. The report “Sustainable Trade in the Context of Global Climate Change” released by the Center for Globalization highlights the importance of global cooperation to address climate change. It proposes to build a sustainable trading system by promoting green technology innovation and supply chain transformation. It calls for strengthening international cooperation in the green industrial chain, promoting low-carbon development, reducing the cost of market access for green products and technologies, and promoting international scientific research cooperation and technology exchanges. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) State of Food and Agriculture 2024 report advocates a values-based approach to agrifood systems transformation, emphasizing the need to go beyond traditional economic indicators and adopt true costing methods to promote policy coordination to ensure equitable distribution of benefits.
World Energy Outlook:
The International Energy Agency’s 2024 World Energy Outlook report pointed out that in the past 10 years, the proportion of fossil fuels in the global energy mix has gradually decreased from 82% in 2013 to 80% in 2023, while global energy demand has increased by 15% in the same period, of which 40% of the growth has come from clean energy. This is due to technological advances, improved energy efficiency and industrial restructuring, which have led to a decline in global energy intensity.
According to the report, nearly $2 trillion of investment flows into clean energy each year, almost double the total investment in oil, gas and coal. At present, about 140 countries around the world have formulated policies related to energy security and climate change, which has promoted the acceleration of the use of clean energy in all walks of life.
The report predicts that between 2023 and 2030, the increase in clean energy will exceed the increase in global electricity demand by 20% under existing policy and market conditions. By 2030, global power plants will use 10% less coal and 50% less oil. For the first time, CO2 emissions from the energy system will no longer grow.
“The global energy landscape is entering a completely different phase from the past, and increased investment in clean energy will have a huge impact on the future prospects of the energy sector and global action on climate change.” said the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol.
According to the International Energy Agency, despite the rapid development of clean energy in the world, there are still challenges such as high financing costs, insufficient grid infrastructure, and weak system integration. There is a need for countries to invest more in new energy sources, especially in power grids and energy storage.
According to the report, advanced clean energy technologies such as solar photovoltaics, wind and hydrogen will create huge potential for emission reductions in the future. Together, these technologies will be responsible for nearly three-quarters of the carbon reduction by 2050. Improving grid infrastructure is therefore key to achieving the global energy transition, especially in energy storage.
Sustainable Trade in a Changing Global Climate:
International cooperation in the green industrial chain should be strengthened
Recently, at the 7th China International Import Expo and Hongqiao International Economic Forum’s “Sustainable Trade in the Context of Global Climate Change” sub-forum, the “Sustainable Trade in the Context of Global Climate Change” report released by the Center for Globalization (CCG) emphasized the importance of global collaboration to address climate change, proposed to build a sustainable trading system by promoting green technology innovation, policy coordination and supply chain transformation, and opposed the use of trade barriers as a means to deal with climate problems.
According to the report, there are two main challenges to sustainable trade development. The first is the impact of trade protectionism on the new energy industry in the context of anti-globalization. Second, as the most important multilateral trading mechanism in the world, the weakening of the WTO has caused great difficulties to international cooperation, although regional cooperation has risen and some progress has been made in addressing climate change and trade liberalization, the limitations of regional agreements are still obvious.
According to the report, international cooperation in the green industry chain should be strengthened. Promote low-carbon development of upstream and downstream industries and related industries through sustainable trade, strengthen international cooperation in green manufacturing, promote the construction of a green and low-carbon industrial chain and supply chain cooperation system, and promote the efficient and coordinated development of high-end factors and the real economy. Strengthen technical exchanges and cooperation, reduce the cost of market access for green products and technologies, accelerate global promotion, and improve the top-level design to address climate change. We will intensify innovation in green technology in the fields of energy conservation and environmental protection, cleaner production, and clean energy, carry out international scientific research cooperation and technical exchanges, and achieve breakthroughs in green and low-carbon technology innovation.
The State of Food and Agriculture 2024:
Building more sustainable agrifood systems
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently released The State of Food and Agriculture 2024 report details that in upper-middle-income and high-income countries, the hidden costs of health are the main drivers in highly industrialised agrifood systems, driving up global hidden costs, followed by the impact of environmental hidden costs.
The report classifies agrifood systems into six types: protracted, traditional, expansion, diversified, formalized and industrialized, and this classification framework allows for a targeted understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities inherent in each type, so that appropriate policies and interventions can be tailored to local conditions.
The report calls for a values-driven transformation of agrifood systems to be more sustainable, resilient, inclusive and efficient. To achieve this, it is necessary to move beyond traditional economic methods such as GDP to real costing to calculate hidden costs. Policymakers can use this approach to make clearer choices that enhance the social value of agrifood systems and recognize the critical role they play in food security, nutrition, biodiversity conservation and cultural identity. In addition, achieving this transformation will require breaking down silos across sectors, aligning policies across the health, agriculture and environment sectors, and ensuring that benefits and costs are equitably distributed among all stakeholders.
QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, said: “The choices we make today, the priorities we set and the solutions we implement will determine our shared future. Real change starts with individual actions and initiatives, complemented by enabling policies and targeted investments. Transforming global agrifood systems is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring a prosperous future for all. ”
China has achieved remarkable results in sustainable development
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According to the 2024 Report on Earth Big Data Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China has made significant progress in the development of renewable energy and other environmental indicators. China has achieved 126 (55.5%) goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ahead of schedule, especially in SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), and is expected to approach or achieve the targets on schedule. According to the report “China’s Carbon Neutrality by 2060: Social Transformation and Green Development Pathway” released by the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development of Tsinghua University, the energy transition is the key to achieving decarbonization, and the demand-side transition will contribute about 55% of the total decarbonization. Technological innovation and generational shift are the main drivers for accelerating the energy transition, and electrification and digitalization will become important ways to achieve demand-side transformation. According to the report “Research on Challenges and Countermeasures of Digital Technology to Achieve the “Double Carbon” Goal” jointly released by China Mobile Research Institute and Beijing Normal University, digital technology plays an important role in promoting green transformation. Digitalization can help improve energy efficiency and facilitate the formation of carbon trading markets, but it can also lead to an increase in carbon emissions by stimulating energy consumption. The report calls for strengthening the coordinated development of digital technology and greening, and promoting the R&D and application of clean energy to achieve a green transformation of the energy structure.
Report on Big Earth Data for the Sustainable Development Goals (2024):
China has made significant contributions to the development of renewable energy
According to the Report on Earth Big Data Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (2024) (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 126 indicators (55.5%) of the indicators in China have achieved the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ahead of schedule. The report makes quantitative predictions for environmental indicators. According to the current development trend, China is expected to approach or achieve the overall goals of SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) on schedule.
The report points out that although the world has made slow progress on some indicators, China has made significant contributions to industrial energy conservation and emission reduction, renewable energy development, and ecological restoration. From 2017 to 2021, the number of global industrial heat sources decreased by 9.05%, of which China contributed 33.61% of the decline in industrial heat sources. From 2000 to 2023, the annual deployment of offshore wind power in the world has increased significantly, and China is the main driver of global offshore wind power growth, accounting for about 50% of the world’s cumulative installed offshore wind power capacity by the end of 2023. In the past 10 years, land productivity at the global scale has shown a downward trend, accounting for 7.27%. During the same period, China’s land productivity increased by 467,100 square kilometers, the largest in the world.
In addition, China has also made positive progress in agricultural water management and drinking water safety, public transportation convenience, energy conservation and emission reduction, and marine pollution reduction. Among them, the application of the Internet + rural water supply model has improved the drinking water safety level of more than 62 million rural people in China. Between 2006 and 2020, China’s energy intensity fell by 42.5%, while in 2022, 90% of China’s population had easy access to public transport. In 2020, China’s carbon emission intensity was significantly reduced by 48.4% compared to 2005. From 2018 to 2023, the degree of microplastic pollution in the environmental media of the Yellow Sea ecoregion was at a medium and low level.
China’s Carbon Neutrality by 2060: Social Transformation and Green Development Pathways:
The demand side has huge potential for carbon reduction
A few days ago, the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development of Tsinghua University and others released the report “China’s Carbon Neutrality in 2060: Social Transformation and Green Development Pathway”, which pointed out that energy transition is crucial to decarbonization, and the demand side contains huge carbon reduction potential, which is the top priority of energy transition.
According to the report, by 2060, about 55% of China’s total decarbonization will be contributed by the energy demand-side transition. The demand-side transformation will bring about three major trends: first, the energy system will undergo fundamental changes, and the allocation of energy supply and consumption will be more flexible; Second, renewable energy will be the main driving force to accelerate the energy transition; Thirdly, in order to meet the changing demand for energy consumption, new energy supply facilities, such as microgrids, need to be built.
Yang Xiu, director of the research department of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University, said in the interpretation of the report that technological innovation and generational change are the two major engines to accelerate the demand-side transformation. Technological innovation has led to scalability, highly distributed features, and continuously increasing returns. At the same time, a new generation of people is more innovative, more individual, and more philanthropic in nature, which will reshape consumer behavior and social policies across society.
Based on a wealth of detailed data in key areas such as construction, transportation, and industry, the report argues that the modernization of China’s economy will drive decarbonization, and electrification and digitalization are the two major ways to achieve demand-side transformation. With the increasing abundance of electricity resources and the gradual reduction of prices, the electrification of the demand side is an inevitable trend, and the proportion of electricity in final energy demand is expected to increase significantly from the current 22% to 55%-69% by 2060. In addition, digitalization plays a key role in increasing production efficiency and optimizing energy demand, for example, in the industrial sector, digitalization can help achieve energy savings of 10%-20%, and with the continuous breakthrough of advanced technologies, energy efficiency is expected to increase by more than 35%.
Research on the Challenges and Countermeasures of Digital Technology to Help Achieve the “Double Carbon” Goal:
Digital technology is an important force in promoting the green transition
Recently, China Mobile Research Institute (China Mobile Think Tank) and Beijing Normal University jointly released the report “Research on the Challenges and Countermeasures of Digital Technology to Help Achieve the “Double Carbon” Goal”, pointing out that digital technology is an important force to promote Chinese-style modernization and comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. Different from developed countries, the key to promoting the realization of the “dual carbon” goal in the process of high-quality economic development in China lies in promoting the coordinated development of digitalization and greening. Digital technologies can theoretically reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by improving energy efficiency and promoting structural upgrading, but at the same time, they may also lead to an increase in carbon emissions by stimulating energy consumption.
Recently, China Mobile Research Institute (China Mobile Think Tank) and Beijing Normal University jointly released the report “Research on the Challenges and Countermeasures of Digital Technology to Help Achieve the “Double Carbon” Goal”, pointing out that digital technology is an important force to promote Chinese-style modernization and comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. Different from developed countries, the key to promoting the realization of the “dual carbon” goal in the process of high-quality economic development in China lies in promoting the coordinated development of digitalization and greening. Digital technologies can theoretically reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by improving energy efficiency and promoting structural upgrading, but at the same time, they may also lead to an increase in carbon emissions by stimulating energy consumption.
The report emphasizes that digital technology and digital economy are the main driving forces leading high-quality economic development, and it is necessary to promote the construction of a modern industrial system, accelerate the development of new quality productivity, and deeply apply digital technology and deeply integrate the digital economy. In order to actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality, it is necessary to continue to play an active role in digital technology to help achieve the “dual carbon” goals, including promoting the coordinated development of digital and green, relying on digital technology to promote the R&D and application of clean energy, and strengthening the inclusiveness of digital infrastructure.
Finally, the report puts forward countermeasures and suggestions, including promoting the coordinated development of digitalization and greening, strengthening the green innovation mechanism of carbon reduction empowered by digital technology, and promoting the high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises to achieve synergy in pollution reduction and carbon reduction. At the same time, the report points out the need to pay attention to the energy consumption caused by the development of digital technology, reduce the energy consumption of equipment in the short term, and promote the research and development and application of clean energy in the long term to achieve the green transformation of the energy structure.
