The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has accomplished all the assessment reports of the sixth assessment cycle (AR6). The synthesis report “Climate Change 2023” offers solid scientific support for the first Paris Agreement Global Stocktake, forming the “United Arab Emirates (UAE) Consensus” that guides global climate governance. Currently, both the IPCC and the Global Stocktake have embarked on a new cycle, and their work arrangements also basically coincide with the timeline of China’s “dual carbon” goals of “achieving carbon peak before 2030”. To better exert China’s leading role in global climate governance and gain the initiative in international climate governance from a scientific perspective, this paper commences from the major assessment achievements of the IPCC AR6 and the future planning of the AR7, combs through the cutting-edge scientific issues closely related to the Global Stocktake in the IPCC scientific assessment, and puts forward important insights such as scientifically promoting the transformation of the energy structure, paying attention to the security of energy and climate; highly valuing the assessment and reduction of non-CO₂ gases; strengthening adaptation actions, promoting the construction of adaptive cities; paying attention to climate tipping points, actively responding to new challenges of extreme climates, etc. It also presents development suggestions for the future in the fields of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and the natural science foundation. It is hoped to provide reference for our country to fully participate in the new round of IPCC climate change assessment and global climate governance.

The Paris Agreement completed its first global inventory at COP28, reached the UAE Consensus, and proposed the accelerated development of global renewable energy, the transition away from fossil energy, net zero emission energy system and other important content, demonstrating the outstanding role of energy transformation in achieving global climate goals. Significant achievements in global fossil energy consumption hindering energy transition, low-carbon energy technology becoming new growth point for global green low-carbon technology innovation, and global renewable energy investment promoting electrification rate have become the prominent characteristics of the current global energy transformation. At the same time, major economies attach great importance to energy transformation and technological innovation, making them as the main focus of long-term low emission strategy. The EU has launched new energy system and smart grid construction, Germany has taken multiple measures to promote fossil energy transformation, Japan continues to focus on hydrogen energy technology development, India develops consumption of renewable energy, and China has promoted the development of the new energy industry. The preliminary evaluation index system based on the energy transformation efforts and technological innovation capabilities of various countries shows that the EU and China are in the world’s top tier in energy transformation and technological innovation. To accelerate the global energy transformation and technological innovation process, countries should actively promote the implementation of long-term low emission strategy, establish a global funding mechanism for energy transition and technological innovation, accelerate the global green and low-carbon technology innovation sharing, and advance multilateral solutions for international cooperation.

This paper summarizes the key points of “Emirates Consensus” in the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and analyzes the four declarations related to energy transition, focusing on renewable energy and energy efficiency, cooling, nuclear power, and green hydrogen. It emphasizes China’s role as a leader and a great contributor to global energy transition and COP28. It concludes that there are still some intense disagreements and conflicts such as the phase-out of fossil fuels and coal-fired power generation, the reduction of emissions in the power sector, earlier emissions peaking, and non-CO₂ greenhouse gases like methane, which will be the hard-debating and hot key-points in the coming negotiations. It is recommended that China further enhance national-level coordination and advance systematic planning, accelerate the energy supply and consumption revolution, actively and prudently promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, engage in global climate and energy governance, and expedite the development of China’s climate and energy transition negotiation team.

The continuous temperature rise and other issues caused by climate change have brought long-term risks and significant impacts to the world, and the economic losses caused by climate disasters are increasing day by day. Faced with the increasingly severe issue of climate change, countries have continuously raised their awareness of climate change adaptation, actively formulated national adaptation strategies and plans, strengthened action efforts, and achieved positive results. However, there is still a huge gap between the current global adaptation financing and the increasing cost of adaptation in developing countries, and there is an urgent need for in-depth support from the international community. China is the world’s largest developing country and one of the countries most severely affected by the adverse effects of climate change. In recent years, it has achieved certain results by continuously improving the strategic planning system for adapting to climate change, promoting the adaptation actions in key areas and regions. In the future, it is still necessary to further optimize the early warning system, strengthen climate risk management, lay a good foundation for domestic adaptation to climate change, and promote all parties to set long-term adaptation goals, strengthen financial support, and lead the world to jointly improve climate resilience.

In consideration of the gap between the goals of the Paris Agreement and global climate actions implied by the nationally determined contributions identified by the first Global Stocktake, utilizing international carbon pricing instruments to facilitate the GHG emission reduction activities, including market mechanisms, has become one of the key focus of international society. Besides the market mechanisms established by the Paris Agreement, IMF (International Monetary Fund), EU and other stakeholders have provided different policy proposals toward the arrangement of international carbon pricing. The analysis of different types of international carbon pricing policies shows that the market approach is more suitable for China. In order to improve impacts in carbon pricing area, it is suggested that China promote to enhance the framework of domestic carbon pricing mechanisms and facilitate the cooperation of cross border emission trading.

The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) completed the first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement. The assessment of the overall progress of pre-2020 global climate action is an indispensable component of this Global Stocktake. Whether to fulfill the pre-2020 climate commitments is the foundation for promoting the sustained and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and carrying out post-2020 climate action. However, there is still a significant gap between the current global climate action and the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. Developed countries have not effectively fulfilled their pre-2020 emission reduction commitments under the Cancun Agreement, and developing countries have proposed Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), but it is difficult to assess the general progress in fulfilling these NAMAs. In addition, when developed countries were implementing their pre-2020 mitigation actions, there were some problems, including their mitigation targets were less ambitious, some conturies already achieved part of the mitigation targets when they released the targets, their emission reduction mainly relied on the COVID-19 and the mitigation contribution by economies in transition (EIT) countries, and they failed to fulfill their commitments on financial support and emission reduction. Developing countries face technological barriers and information access barriers in obtaining low-carbon technology support from developed countries. With vigorously developing renewable energy and continuously promoting energy structure optimization, China has exceeded its 2020 climate target and achieved victory in Poverty Eradication in 2020, making great contributions to the global green and low-carbon transition. It is Recommended that all parties focus on concrete actions rather than empty slogans. In particular, developed countries should take the lead in strengthening actions and fill in the pre-2020 implementation gaps, and strengthening the financial, technological and capacity-building support for developing countries, so as to ensure that they contribute to global climate governance based on their national circumstances.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) serves as the focal point and benchmark for global climate governance. In 2023, global temperature broke instrumental records. The year-end COP28 broke all previous records of the conference, with over 80000 officially registered participants. As an essential platform for global climate governance, both the outcomes of the conference and the participants directly reflected the driving force behind climate governance and the trends of countries’ participation in global climate governance. The focus of China and the USA on global climate governance at the COP28 was explored through the analysis of previous COP participants and their compositions, as well as the delegation makeup of China and the USA at COP28, coupled with the climate policies and the current public perceptions of climate change in both countries. The results indicated that the climate policies and actions of both countries were relevant to the participation of their representatives at this COP. Due to the continuity of policies, the USA government reversed its passive stance during the Trump era and is now actively engaging in the conference. At this COP meeting, the USA focused on political efforts, with federal government officials as the primary participant group. China was actively engaged in political negotiation, and its conference delegated predominantly consist of experts from renewable energy and related technological fields. A review of China and the USA’ climate policies and public perception indicated that strengthened domestic climate policies and heightened public perception of climate change in both nations contributed positively to global climate governance.