The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the impact of 1.5℃ and 2℃ warming above pre-industrial levels sent a stark reminder to humanity about the existential threat posed by climate change.
Advocating green development and tackling climate change is one of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF)'s long-term core areas of work. Work in this area includes but is not limited to:
(1) Advocating ecological civilization and green development
The Chairman of CBCGDF proposed the "green locomotive" theory. Since China's reform and opening, the economy has gained geometric multiples and serious environmental and ecological issues have emerged. China's economic development has often been criticized by the West as "high investment, high energy consumption, high pollution, and low efficiency." In 2006, the Party Central Committee and the State Council proposed the first quantitative energy conservation and emission reduction tasks for the 11th Five-Year Development Plan. In the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the strategic concept of "building a socialist ecological civilization" was first proposed and will be built. A resource-saving and environment-friendly society is written into the party constitution. In this context, more than a decade ago, Chairman Hu Deping of CBCGDF put forward the "green locomotive" theory: China must realize the transition from "red locomotive" to green development and take the road of sustainable development. At the same time, the original name of "China Biodiversity Conservation Foundation" changed to the current name. For a long time, CBCGDF has continued to adhere to the frontier of promoting ecological civilization and green development and strives to advocate the practice of green production and promote ecological civilization.
(2) Calling for accelerated decarbonization
As a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to eco-environmental and green development, CBCGDF has long been committed to promoting carbon reduction, promoting the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, promoting green and low-carbon development, and has initiated relevant research in conjunction with relevant parties. At the same time, it also calls on the communities to promote energy conservation and emission reduction. Advocates accelerated decarbonization, actively responds to climate change, and uses practical actions to promote green production lifestyles.
CBCGDF has recommended to Beijing and Hebei Province that the pilots to stop issuing fossil fuel vehicle licenses in 2021, aiming to promote the realization of China’s commitment to peak CO2 emissions around 2030 in 2015 and promote the realization of the UN sustainable development goals, to strengthen actions on addressing climate change continuously.
On the China EV100 Forum 2018 in January, the Secretary General of CBCGDF, member of the international think thank the Club of Rome, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, made a keynote entitled "An Accelerated Decarburization Strategy for China", proposed a decarbonization strategy, combining electric vehicle development with clean energy and sustainable development. Dr. Zhou also proposed the idea of dividing carbon indicators into public sales.
In the spring of 2018, CBCGDF was invited to participate in the signing of the Fossil Fuels Divest Commitment of The Global Catholic Climate Movement. After that, the 2018 global Fossil Fuels Divest Commitment list was officially released. CBCGDF is one of the only two participating members in Asia, and CBCGDF's efforts and calls for comprehensive low-carbon emission reduction and sustainable development in various fields have also been published.
(3) Conducts environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) and actively safeguards environmental public interests.
In response to environmental issues in the field of air pollution and climate change, in order to protect the public's environmental rights and interests, CBCGDF has filed a number of public interest litigations related to air pollution, such as the exhaust gas pollution of Volkswagen, the excessive tail gas of Changan Automobile, and the sale of the annual inspection cheating artifacts on e-commerce platforms, a factory in Hebei Province exceeded the standard emissions of atmospheric pollutants and many other cases.
The phenomenon of curtailment of hydro, wind and PV power generation in China has restricted the development of local wind power and photovoltaic industry, increased emissions from coal-fired power generation, and increased air pollution. CBCGDF wrote to the State Grid and urged them to pay attention to and solve this issue. And CBCGDF proposed to curb the phenomenon of the curtailment of wind and PV power generation.
The work of CBCGDF has actively promoted the process of environmental rule of law in China. Cases such as the Tengger Desert Pollution Public Interest Litigation were included in the typical cases of EPIL by the Supreme People's Court; the first “Toxic Synthetic Running Tracks” EPIL case was selected by the Supreme People's Court and CCTV to the selection of the top ten cases of the rule of law process in 2017. The Tengger Desert Pollution case and the "Toxic Synthetic Running Tracks" case were also selected for the top ten civil administrative cases of the People's Court in 2017.
(4) Environmental rule of law research and decision-making consultation
CBCGDF has participated in a number of environmental rules of law research work and actively participated in the decision-making advice process related to various environmental legislation. For example, CBCGDF and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) set up a special investigation project on environmental pollution criminal crimes. The purpose is to use the factual data as a benchmark to sort out the national environmental pollution crime cases in 2015, summarize the problems in practice, and propose laws in a targeted manner, published the “Report on the Investigation of China’s Pollution Environmental Crimes in 2015”.
(5) Actively participates in the global environmental governance platform
In order to promote China's deep participation in global environmental governance, CBCGDF is highly concerned and actively participates in relevant international environmental conventions, and actively "goes out" to tell good stories of China. CBCGDF has participated in the conferences of the parties to international conventions such as UNFCCC, UNCCD, CBD, and has successfully held side events, exhibitions, and press conferences. At the same time, CBCGDF actively calls for and promote Global Pact for the Environment.
The Secretary General of CBCGDF Dr. Zhou Jinfeng been newly elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Club of Rome. The Club of Rome and its partners advocate “Zero Carbon City”; Calls on all stakeholders – governments, civil society, businesses – to adopt an emergency action plan to comply with the Carbon Law Initiative. By 2030, global greenhouse gas emissions will be halved and zero net worth will be reached by 2050. And industrialized countries provide at least $100 billion annually to low-income countries in accordance with the Paris Commitment to support the development and adaptation of low-carbon technologies.
(6) Advocates "Good Food" - Climate-friendly eating habits
The choice of human diets directly has a huge impact on health, sustainable development, the environment, climate change and animal welfare. It is imperative to advocate a climate-friendly diet. Accordingly, CBCGDF established the Good Food Fund, which is dedicated to food system-related research, information dissemination, policy advocacy, event organization, public education, and entrepreneurial incubation to promote healthy and sustainable food production, marketing, and consumption. Thereby improving human health, the natural environment and the living conditions of animals.
(Photo source: COP24)
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/6868.html