BEIJING: China will take effective steps to address green trade barriers as it moves towards carbon neutrality, according to the Government Work Report delivered at the opening of the third session of the 14th National People’s Congress.
Green trade barriers typically involve measures that impose restrictions or requirements on imported products to ensure compliance with specific environmental standards.
The country will actively and prudently work towards its climate targets of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, the report said, listing concrete measures to advance those goals.
China will steadily expand the second batch of trials for peaking carbon dioxide emissions and establish zero-carbon industrial parks and factories, according to the report.
It also plans to accelerate the establishment of a framework for controlling the total amount and intensity of carbon emissions and expand the national carbon trading market to cover more industrial sectors.
The nation will speed up the construction of new energy bases in deserts and other arid regions, develop offshore wind farms and promote both the integration of renewable energy into local grids and the construction of transmission routes, the report said.
The report also highlighted measures China will roll out in response to green trade barriers.
The country will launch carbon emissions statistics and accounting initiatives, develop systems for carbon footprint management, and establish carbon labelling and certification systems.
Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said green trade barriers differ from other types of trade barriers in that they include measures that align with global efforts to combat climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
“From this perspective, green trade barriers do have some valid components. Therefore, we must respond to them effectively,” he said.
Several major emerging green trade barriers are intricately linked to managing products’ carbon footprints across their life cycles, he noted. — China Daily/ANN
