Abstract:

The long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategy is another key document after the nationally determined contribution, both of which serve as measures of each Party’s mitigation efforts. This study compares and analyses the 12 long-term low-emission development strategies submitted to the UNFCCC secretariat, and summaries key findings from perspectives including the storylines, main contents and the challenges ahead. It is found that the long term emission reduction ambitions are very different among all countries and the breakdowns of national targets into targets by sector and by gas type are still very preliminary. At the same time, considering the big gap between the mid-to-long term mitigation ambitions and the needs to achieve the global temperature increase target, the very limited economic feasibility analysis on main tasks and measures, the gap between the climate finance assistance and the targets set by UNFCCC, there are still great challenges ahead regarding the implementation of the strategies. Based on the key findings, policy recommendations are proposed mainly from four perspectives, including keeping tracking analysis on the submitted long-term strategies and the related key strategies, enhancing analysis on the two-step mitigation targets and tasks in line with China’s two-step approach to build China into a great modern socialist country by the middle of the century, intensifying trimming researches and extended researches on the weakest parts regarding the mitigation pathway, reinforcing analysis on crosscutting strategic issues closely related to the long-term emission reductions.

Key words: Low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, Long-term strategy, Climate change