Ahead of next week’s United Nations Climate Action Summit, China’s top environmental authority has reiterated the country’s commitment to fulfilling its Paris Agreement pledge, according to an official announcement.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment said Tuesday that China will adopt “nature-based solutions” to tackle climate change, with greater efforts to improve biodiversity, forestation, and water resources, among other priorities. From 2005 to 2018, China’s carbon emission intensity — or emissions volume per unit of GPD — decreased by 45.8%, the statement said, adding that the government will continue to promote climate adaptation, as well as carbon trading, to reduce the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

According to a study published in July in the scientific journal Nature, China’s carbon emissions are likely to peak between 2021 and 2025 — several years ahead of 2030, the target China set for itself as part of the Paris Agreement. Signed during a 2015 climate conference in the French capital, the agreement was aimed at keeping global temperatures from increasing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

This year’s Climate Action Summit is scheduled to kick off Monday in New York. The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has said he hopes to “hear about how we are going to stop the increase in emissions by 2020, and dramatically reduce emissions to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.” (Image: VCG)