Significance of China's net-zero target

Its carbon pledge is a massive financial and technological undertaking. India must prepare for energy transition too

In the last week of September 2020, Chinese president Xi Jinping made a major announcement in his address to the United Nations General Assembly. He committed China to a target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2060. This was a huge announcement and one that has gotten a little lost in the chaos around the renewed surge in Covid-19 cases in the West.

China is the 800-pound gorilla for greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions, so this announcement has profound implications for limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. It also has a bearing on the energy transition across the world. Even though the