Responding to Global Changes as a Community of Common Destiny

As humankind progresses in giant steps, we also face a series of daunting challenges, crises, and security threats, including en- vironmental degradation, climate change, a sharp decline in bio- diversity, nuclear proliferation, epidemics, and terrorism, to name but a few. How to respond to these threats is a test of human rea- son and wisdom. Climate change is a global security issue to which no country is immune. Scientific understanding of and a proactive response to climate change are required for the sustainable development of humankind.

An in-depth view of climate change:addressing climate change while making a transition on the development mode

While fossil fuels greatly contribute to human society,they pose great challenges to natural resources,the environment,and climate change.Developed countries,like the United States,formulated strategic measures to ensure their sustainable development and leading positions in the world.These measures include new green policies,development of shale gas,revitalization of nuclear power,energy independence,reindustrialization,and new low-carbon development based on a combination of Internet technology and renewable energy.Developing countries are also trying to introduce balanced strategies of poverty alleviation and sustainable development.Globally,industrial civilization is being transformed to ecological civilization and green,low-carbon development is a global trend.Addressing climate change provides new strategic factors to further this development.China should take substantial actions to realize sustainable development in a new road:China is in the critical stage of changing its development mode,so it is vital to choose an appropriate development path.This extensive development comes at the high price of consuming too much resources and scarring the environment.Mitigation and adaptation strategies for addressing climate change can help the transition of development.Based on the analysis of the development data of developed countries,the author introduces the concept of"two-type developed countries"with an understanding that not all developed countries must take the same development mode.He also holds the view that China should achieve modernization in a more energy-saving and more carbon-efficient manner compared with that of two-type developed countries.An analysis of"two competitions"that China is facing shows that changing the developing mode is urgent and China should grasp this opportunity in the next five to ten years,which is a key period for this transition.This paper discusses the low-carbon development goals and the three-step process.Low-carbon development does not necessarily restrict economic development.It,however,can expedite the transition of the development mode and this is a low-carbon and green development path.Transition of the development mode includes implementation of China's green and low-carbon energy strategies,low-carbon society construction,development of agriculture and forestry,garbage sorting and utilization,innovation of urbanization,etc.Improvement of national infrastructure construction includes water safety,environment and climate monitoring system,intelligent energy web,basic database,etc.Addressing climate change can significantly improve the nation's basic research level.In summary,it mitigates backward production capability,extensive development,and environmental damage while promoting technological advancement,scientific development,and ecological civilization.

Energy revolution:for a sustainable future

The discovery and use of fossil fuels have not only helped the evolution of human society from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization,but also caused serious environmental and climate problems.The earth is calling for a sustainable future,and a change from industrial civilization to ecological civilization based on the new"energy revolution".A macroscopic quantitative analysis of China's environmental capacity and climate capacity shows that China is in urgent need of changing the extensive developing mode and having an energy revolution.It is foreseeable that fossil fuels will remain the most consumed source of energies in China now and in the next few decades.Although the efficient and clean use of fossil fuels are very important,this is not an energy revolution or the fundamental solution to environmental and climate problems.Unconventional gases including shale gas play an important role in the mitigation of environmental problems and climate change,but"shale gas revolution"or"shale gas era"is not suitable to China since the proportion of natural gas in primary energy structure in China can only be increased by a maximum of 20%.The transition of Chinese energy structure from fossil-fuels-dominating stage to multiple-energy-sources stage and then to a nonfossil-fuels-dominating stage is the inevitable future,with the help of great contribution from renewable energy and nuclear energy.Among renewable energies,the proportion of non-hydro renewable energies will gradually increase.Improvement of their market competitiveness(economic efficiency)relies on technological innovation.Renewable energies will be the main energy source for the earth in future.Despite the impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster,the whole world,including China,will not give up nuclear energy development.Safe,steady,and large-scale development of nuclear power is a rational choice of China.Transition from nuclear fission power plant to nuclear fusion power plant is the inevitable future.Nuclear energy will be a sustainable energy source and another main energy source of the earth in future.China needs to enhance energy security consciousness,promote energy saving,and change the energy supply-demand patterns,that is the transition from"meet a too-fast-growing demand with an extensive supply"to"meet a reasonable demand with a rational supply".All countries need to work together to address global environmental problems and climate change.Energy revolution is the foundation for a sustainable future.With a wide range of international cooperation,the win-win cooperation is the only way of overcoming these challenges.

Thoughts on strategies and paths to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China

First,a brief introduction is made to the four basic judgments and understandings of the goals of"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality."Then,an in-depth elaboration is provided on the eight major strategies for achieving the goals of"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality,"including conservation and efficiency priority,energy security,non-fossil energy substitution,reelectrification,resource recycling,carbon sequestration,digitalization and cooperation between countries.Next,eight major implementation paths for achieving the goals of"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality"are discussed in detail,including industrial restructuring;building a clean,low-carbon,safe and_efficient energy system,and renewing the understanding of China's energy resource endowment;accelerating the construction of a new-type power system with a gradually growing proportion of new energy,and realizing the"possible triangle"of highquality energy system development;utilizing electrification and deep decarbonization technologies to promote the orderly peaking and gradual neutralization of carbon emissions in the industrial sector;promoting the lowcarbon transition of transportation vehicles to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the transportation sector;focusing on breaking through key green building technologies to achieve zero carbon emissions from building electricity and heat;providing a strong technical support for carbon removal to achieve carbon neutrality;accelerating the construction of the integrated planning and assessment mechanism for pollution and carbon reduction,establishing a sound strategy,planning,policy and action system,and optimizing the carbon trading system.Afterwards,it is particularly pointed out that the realization of the goals of"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality"cannot be separated from the support of scitech innovation.Finally,it is stressed that carbon neutrality is not the end,but an important milestone.If viewed from the perspective of future energy,the significance and historical status of the goals of"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality"will be more understandable.

Tackling climate change and promoting the energy revolution

Following the Paris Agreement, green and low-carbon development has entered into a new stage. China＇s international responsibility to combat climate change is consistent with the inherent sustainable devel- opment needs of the country. In this paper, the reason- ability of China＇s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions （INDC） is examined and the fact that low- carbon development can lead to modernization is demon- strated based on data analysis of energy economics from developed countries. Considering the fact that such an energy revolution forms the basis for China＇s low-carbon transition, a roadmap of the China＇s energy utilization is presented. Based on research results from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the three historical stages of China＇s energy structure reform are analyzed. Promoting a low-carbon transition through an energy revolution is a long-term and arduous process that requires a genuine transformation of development outlook and patterns. By empirically analyzing situations at home and abroad, a conclusion is made that economic development and a low- carbon transition can be achieved simultaneously; speci- fically, low-carbon development fosters new points of economic growth and gives rise to different development paths.