Thread by @LHongqiao

A week after the two sessions, who's doing what to implement Xi's 2030/60 climate pledge?

1. The National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) organized a symposium with iron & steel, non-ferrous metals (aluminum) & building materials (cement) on industry peak emission plans.

2. NDRC also organized a symposium with its own advisors and advisors to the MEE, and China Electricity Council (a powerful industry association) to discuss the upper-level design for peak emission and carbon neutrality. Note that MEE is not presented in the meeting.

3. The Ministry of Ecology & Environment (MEE) is pushing for a triple-cap constraint mechanism for the iron & steel industry, including carbon emission, pollutant discharge, and total energy consumption. It also aims to expand the national ETS to the iron & steel industry asap.

4. The Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) is publishing a stricter capacity replacement plan for the iron & steel industry, proposing to pose a dual-cap on production and capacity. It'll also review the de-capacity actions in the 13FYP, which obviously failed.

5. At the city level, the Tangshan government in Hebei province requires 23 iron & steel enterprises to restrict production to ensure a 30% or 50% reduction of air pollutant discharge in 2021. Aiming to control air pollution, it'll also have a spillover effect on carbon emission.

5. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) aims to "comprehensively factor climate change in its policy framework", including financial stability, monetary policy, foreign exchange reserves, disclosure, and standardization, etc.

So, yeah, it is happening...

Friends in Beijing say they often find themselves in conversations with taxi drivers and nannies, who now passionately talk about net-zero and how the pledges demonstrate China's responsibility as a great power, after knowing they work in "green".

Meanwhile, others wonder why most coverages, esp social media posts on 2030/60 are sponsored or produced by financial institutes or private companies of all sorts, which often interpret the top leadership's climate commitments as signals of "multiple trillion-dollar markets".

However excited I am about this "green wave", it's worth noting it is purely backed up by CPC-led political commitments and state-led actions. The other major drivers of social change - civil society and media - are suffocating.

A new policy jointly issued by 20+ central govt agencies aims to "eradicate the soil for illegal civil society organizations", prohibiting participation, affiliation, media coverage, public & financial services of any sort to engage with "illegal CSOs". t.ly/6h0Z

In our previous Q&A on the Central Environment Inspection Team's critic of China's National Energy Administration, scholars expressed concern about the exclusion of civil society in China's social and economic transition towards a low-carbon society. t.ly/P20i

Some may compare China's current enthusiasm and devotion to climate actions with its previous declaration of the "war on pollution" in 2012-2013, but the context has also largely changed in the past 8 years. We now have a much bigger government and a much smaller civil society.

NEW - Premier Li Keqiang: the 6% GDP growth target for 2021 is "not low" & it leaves an opening for higher growth in reality.

"We are not making plans, but guiding expectations", he says. "We cannot exchange for economic growth with high energy consumption & high pollution".

What a busy week...Han Zhen, a member of CCCPC's Politburo & vice premier, also spoke at the China Development Forum, a high-level event hosted by State Council's thinktank.

He says despite a "tough battle", China will ensure realizing peak emission & carbon neutrality on time.

Li Gao from MEE's Dept of climate action says:

Peak emission action plan and its implication at all levels and in all industries will be included in the work of the Central Environment Inspection Team (CEIT).

What does this mean? See prev-explainer: t.ly/P20i

It's hard to say if CEIT's involvement would be permanent or interim. Before China formulate and adopt a comprehensive law on climate change, CEIT seems to be the most effective institution to ensure the authority of the climate-related policies made by MEE at the ministry level.

Now, the domestic signal is crystal clear: ensuring peak emission and carbon neutrality is the biggest politic.

The intl cooperation, however, is less clear. Can China and US, and EU, form a new workforce on climate change despite all other disputes from trade to human rights?