China has demolished a large number of energy-consuming and high-emission power plants with the installed capacity of 170 million kilowatts, more than double that of Britain's total, a Chinese senior official at an international climate summit said here Friday.
Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs, who was attending the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) that ended in San Francisco earlier in the day, said China has made major significant contributions to global efforts in reducing carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Speaking at a press conference at the end of the three-day event on climate challenge, Xie refuted criticisms of some Western people who accused China of building more coal-burned power plants at a time when countries are fighting for reduction of carbon emissions.
Britain has a total installed capacity of about 70 million kilowatts in its power plants nationwide, but the gross installed capacity of the power plants demolished in China was over two times more than in Britain, to reach 170 million kilowatts, Xie said.
He said China is committed to a path of green, low-carbon and renewable development that fits into its own national condition.
China has been playing an active role in addressing climate change and delivering on the goal of the Paris Agreement, said Xie.
The emission of carbon dioxide per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 dropped 46 percent from the level of 2005 in China, which means the country has achieved the goal of 2020 for the reduction of carbon intensity, Xie said.
He said his foreign counterparts have all acknowledged China's efforts to fight climate change and cut carbon emissions, hailing China as a country that is really taking action to fight for a low carbon world.
Xie said California Governor Jerry Brown told him that the California state, the host of the 2018 GCAS, is willing to learn from China in developing green transportation such as electric vehicles.
China is the world's largest market of e-sedans with about 1.6 million units, accounting for an estimated 50 percent of the total number of e-sedans globally, Xie said.
He quoted statistics of the World Bank as saying that China accounts for more than 52 percent of the energy saved by the whole world over the past 20 years.
China will continue to develop new and innovative technology to attain both the national and the world goals of low carbon emissions, Xie said.
Xie is a co-chair of the Global Climate Action Summit that aims to champion climate policies and measures to bring down carbon emissions worldwide.
