China formally committed to halting the rise in its greenhouse gas emissions within the next 15 years on Tuesday, in a much anticipated strategy to help build a U.N. climate deal in 2015.
The world's top greenhouse gas emitter said it would invest more in clean energy and plant more carbon-absorbing forests as part of the plan.
The Chinese plan chimes with targets announced in November, when Beijing reached a key climate change deal with Washington to cap its emissions by 2030.
"China's carbon dioxide emission will peak by around 2030 and China will work hard to achieve the target at an even earlier date," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in a statement after meeting French President Francois Hollande in Paris.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called China's plan an "excellent sign" for the United Nations summit in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11, which intends to agree a global deal to combat climate change after past failures.
China did not, however, say at what level its emissions would peak. The cap is the first set by Beijing, which had argued that it needed to burn more fossil fuels to end poverty and that developed nations must lead in climate action.
In a new element beyond the U.S.-China deal, Beijing said it would cut its CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 60-65 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. That would deepen a 40-45 percent cut already set by Beijing for 2020.
The world's second-largest economy also aims to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to about 20 percent by 2030, the statement said, as part of a strategy to limit more heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels.
PHOTO: Buildings are pictured on a hazy day in Beijing, June 25, 2015.
CREDIT: REUTERS/JASON LEE.