Is This The Trend to a Better Future?

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, climate change has become the “Challenge of Our Generation.” With the onset of the Anthropocene, when time is not in favour of mankind, a fundamental reorganization of our relationship with the ecosystem is needed. As a result of scientific research, the awareness of the contribution of emitted greenhouse gases to climate change has grown. The main contributor by sector, energy generation, and by country, China, is easily determined. The objective of this paper to examine China, as the biggest greenhouse gases emitter, endeavour to mitigate its contribution to Anthropocene climate change, in light of the fact that it makes climate pledges, and restructuring actions within its energy generation systems, to reduce emission levels. By applying trend analysis, the paper answers the question of whether we can be confidently optimistic about the Chinese commitment to climate change mitigation. The results show that the Chinese commitments are ambitious and competitive compared to the efforts of developed countries. However, in the fight to reaching the maximum 1.5°C above pre-industrial level, China’s current path is not effective enough. If we go along with adopting loopholes to our climate change mitigation, we are risking diving into a future from which we cannot easily return.