Essay on Climate Change to Low Carbon Economy

In recent years, as the global climate change issue is heating up, the shortage of conventional fossil energy sources such as coal, oil and natural gas and the contradiction between supply and demand are becoming more and more prominent, and the concept of low carbon economy is gradually taking shape and receiving widespread attention. Against the backdrop of the international community's bargaining over responsibilities and obligations for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, we must carefully study, analyze and absorb the concept of an international low-carbon economy, and early explore a low-carbon economic development path with Chinese characteristics.

The essence of "low carbon" in developed countries

The concept of "low carbon economy" was first put forward in the British energy white paper "Our Energy Future: Creating a Low Carbon Economy" in 2003, and has subsequently been adopted by government departments, international organizations, academics, the business community and society as a whole.

The concept of "low carbon economy" was first introduced in the 2003 UK Energy White Paper "Our Energy Future: Creating a Low Carbon Economy", and has since been widely quoted by governments, international organizations, academics, businesses, and social and non-governmental organizations.

The UK's energy white paper sets out the challenges of the energy future, policy objectives and a vision for humanity. It concludes that carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for warming the climate, and that it is necessary to develop a stable energy supply and establish a new carbon emissions trading system and a competitive system. After the white paper was released, developed countries took advantage of it to raise the issue of climate change to the moral high ground, talking about creating a carbon-centered international market structure and explicitly promoting a carbon tariff system.

The low-carbon economy advocated by developed countries is a strategy that favors post-industrialized countries in the name of protecting the global climate. On the one hand, it has become a clever strategy of the West for developed countries to take the opportunity to build a new platform and reconstruct new rules of the game by using their leading position in low-carbon technology to re-stretch the economic competitive advantage with developing countries in the process of switching from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economic model.

In the past 20 years, developed countries have mainly devoted themselves to the development of the virtual economy represented by the information service industry and modern financial industry, and transferred the real economy centered on manufacturing to developing countries. The traditional advantages of the western countries in the real economy are gradually disappearing in the process of long-term outward relocation of the manufacturing industry, especially the growing economic strength of the large developing countries represented by China, which has caused an obvious impact on the competitiveness of their economies.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the preface to the UK energy white paper, bluntly expressed the strategic considerations of developed countries to reshape the competitiveness of their economies through a low-carbon economy: "Leading the way for new, low-carbon economic development in the future will be a major opportunity for us (the UK) to become a world leader in key technologies of the future, such as fuel cells, offshore wind, tidal power, etc. ". The low carbon economy referred to in the White Paper represents the aspirations of some industrialized countries for future energy security and higher environmental standards, and derives new technological standards and international rules to make countries and companies with low carbon technologies more socially acceptable and economically dominant. As a result, the concept of a low-carbon economy in the White Paper has received wider support and response from developed countries. According to this logic, in the global economic landscape, industrialized and developing countries will once again be separated by the "low-carbon" sign of economic activity.

On the other hand, the developed countries in the name of the development of low-carbon economy, the implementation of carbon tariffs, technical barriers to trade and market access and other trade protectionism tendency has become more and more intense, to limit the development of developing countries has been exposed.

In recent years, in the international trade bilateral negotiations, additional energy efficiency and environmental protection clauses, the trend of new obligations has been common. Developed countries are likely to take further unilateral measures to raise the environmental standards of imported products or energy efficiency standards, the establishment of "green trade barriers". Some developed countries, especially within the European Union, have begun to implement laws and policies to promote carbon dioxide emissions reduction, and the European Union is trying to impose an international carbon tax in the field of civil aviation. After the Copenhagen conference, the first meeting held by the EU is the development of carbon tariffs and rules.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the U.S. Clean Energy Security Act in the "special tariffs" provisions, the U.S. government in 2020, the U.S. government can be exported to the United States of America's products levied on each ton of carbon dioxide 10 U.S. dollars to 70 U.S. dollars of the "carbon tariffs ". By formulating a carbon intensity standard that can only be met by American equipment and technology, enterprises in developing countries wishing to export to the United States will be forced to buy its equipment and technology. As a result, the foreign exchange reserves of developing countries will flow back to the United States through the purchase of U.S. equipment and technology, as well as the "carbon tariff".

The developed countries not only require developing countries to develop a low-carbon economy in the bilateral arena, but also require developing countries to formulate their own low-carbon development strategies in international climate change negotiations. Although there is the intention to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse emissions, their more profound purpose is to forcibly kidnap developing countries onto their carefully designed tracks.

Currently, China is at the low end of the international industrial division of labor, the process of upgrading traditional industries has not yet been completed, environmental pollution control has just begun, once Europe and the United States and other countries and regions will be linked to the trade and climate issues of the success of the plot, will be China's foreign trade and even the entire economic development has a serious adverse impact. To this end, we must come out of a low carbon economy with China's own characteristics of the road.

Energy saving and emission reduction is the core

Low-carbon economy concept put forward by the developed countries, and then the term was introduced to China, we should pay attention to the implementation of the actual combination with China, that is, absorbing the new energy, technological innovation, and other positive content, but also to fully reflect China's national conditions, stage of development and interests.

The low-carbon economy proposed by developed countries is a development model that is beneficial to developed countries after they have basically solved the traditional environmental problems brought about by industrialization. Our country is in the middle stage of industrialization: firstly, it has become the "world factory" of low-end products in the international industrial chain division of labor; secondly, it has to accelerate the development of "heavy industry" in the industrial structure; thirdly, it has to realize the arduous task of industrialization and urbanization at the same time. At the same time, the coal-based energy structure and the lack of advanced technology will be in a long period of time to become China's transition to a low-carbon economy a major challenge.

The low-carbon economy and low-carbon technologies we are talking about should not be centered on pure carbon emission reduction, but on energy conservation and emission reduction, with a focus on addressing the need to improve the efficiency of energy use, develop renewable energy sources, and improve the quality of the environment, in order to lay a good foundation for China's economic transformation and structural adjustment, and to avoid taking the same path that the developed countries have once taken. While promoting the research and development of new energy and other technologies, we must take into account the improvement of energy efficiency and resource utilization efficiency of traditional industrial production, greening them, developing new energy and environmental technologies, new processes and major equipment suitable for China's national conditions, and providing technological support for the development of a green economy. Under the framework of green economy, explore the development path in line with China's national conditions.

China's low-carbon choices

How can the development of a low-carbon economy with Chinese characteristics be comprehensive, integrated and sustainable?

One is to advocate green development with sustainable development at its core.

Under the framework of green economy, we promote the development of various fields including circular economy, low carbon economy, ecological economy and rational consumption. The concept of low-carbon economy falls on energy conservation and emission reduction, environmental protection and energy efficiency improvement, on the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and on the adjustment and upgrading of industrial structure.

The second is that low-carbon technology should be developed on the basis of scientific and technological innovation.

We should form a hierarchical system of advanced and applicable technologies with independent intellectual property rights according to China's economic and social development and the international community's future trend of coping with climate change, so as to achieve mutual coordination among various technologies. Not only should we increase the popularization and application of applicable technologies, but we should also focus on strengthening the research and development and reserve of new energy technologies, clean coal technologies, energy conservation and other strategic technologies.

Thirdly, through low-carbon technologies and industrial policies, we should capitalize on our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, transform and upgrade traditional industries, and cultivate strategic new industries.

Promoting the development of low-carbon economy involves all sectors of the national economy and all industries, and is related to the adjustment of the economic structure, the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and the cultivation of strategic new industries, as well as the international competition in science and technology and market competition. Low-carbon economy must be "attached to the soul", and the traditional industries and emerging industries is where the "body" is located.

Fourth, give full consideration to carbon tariffs and other trade protection measures countermeasures.

On the one hand, we have to realize energy saving and emission reduction independently to serve our own development; on the other hand, we should also fully consider the countermeasures against trade protection measures such as carbon tariffs, so that we will not suffer losses or less losses in the global change economic game.