COP26 has become another annual theatrical climate show. Leaders of public, private and civil society are gathered in Glasgow this week and the next to nudge each other and edge forward a multilateral process to fight climate change collectively.
But this round, there shall be differences. Scientists are providing more affirmative evidence of a crumbling planetary climate system that is crucial to support lives on Earth. The hottest decade on record has put humankind through the hell and horror of some of the most devastating disasters. A global clean energy revolution is embraced as the only pathway forward to mitigate climate warming and enhance human capability and capacity in adaptation and resilience.
As the world's largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter today, China and Chinese people bear a sense of urgency and aspire to accelerate its clean and climate-resilient transition. The low carbon economic transition in the last decade has brought evidence and co-benefits from aggressive measures of decoupling its continued economic growth from energy and resources consumption, carbon and other pollutants emissions while investing in non-fossil fuel energy sources and infrastructure.
The Chinese people have learned two things. First, transition is always painful, short-term and even longer-term, but no transition is destructive. The premium or cost of transition won't go up forever. Determination, persistence and perseverance will turn a punishing situation into something rewarding. China's success in developing renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, electric vehicles (Evs), energy storage and smart power grids in the last decade has made the case. Now a leading global player in both manufacturing and supply chain, China can accelerate deployment domestically and support the global market and other developing countries to embark on a clean energy transition.
