On May 30, Ding Zhongli, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), delivered a special report titled "China's Carbon Neutral Framework Roadmap Research" at the 7th annual academic meeting of CAS. Ding Zhongli introduced the progress of the CAS's recent consulting project on carbon neutrality.

Carbon neutrality refers to the net zero emissions that are absorbed by human actions (wood stock, soil organic carbon, engineering sequestration, etc.) and natural processes (ocean absorption, carbon burial in erosion-deposition process, carbon sequestration in alkaline soil, etc.) to achieve net zero emissions.

In 2019, global carbon emissions were 40.1 billion tonnes of CO2, 86% of which came from fossil fuel use and 14% from land use change. These emissions end up being absorbed by land sinks of 31% and ocean sinks of 23%, with the remaining 46% trapped in the atmosphere. Carbon neutral means finding ways to remove or absorb carbon dioxide that would otherwise remain in the atmosphere.

Zhong-li ding interpreted the scientific concept and connotation of carbon neutral, analyzed the carbon peak and carbon neutral work situation both at home and abroad, this paper introduces the division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences major consulting project "the research of carbon neutral framework roadmap of China's background and significance, the key scientific problems, the design of the task and have a preliminary understanding, and the future path of Chinese carbon neutral, etc. Put forward the preliminary views.

At present, the world's carbon emissions are in different stages, which can be roughly divided into four types. The emissions of developed countries such as the UK, France and the US peaked in the 1970s and 1980s and are now in a post-peak decline stage. China is still in the industrial structure adjustment and upgrading, and economic growth into the new normal stage, emissions gradually entered the "platform period"; Emissions in emerging countries such as India are still rising; There are also a large number of developing and agricultural countries where emissions associated with rapid economic and social development have yet to "kick off".

Some member states of the European Union took the lead in committing to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. China also made a commitment in September 2020 to "strive for the peak of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060". This is an ambitious but extremely difficult strategic goal. From the historical relationship between carbon emissions of major developed countries and economic growth, the development degree of a country is closely related to the per capita cumulative carbon emissions. As far as China is concerned, the per capita cumulative carbon emissions are far lower than those of major developed countries and less than the global average. Our goal of being carbon neutral by 2060 is much more difficult than that of developed countries.

In his report, Ding Zhongli pointed out that carbon neutrality seems very complicated, but in general, it is a "three-terminal power generation" system. The first end is the energy supply end, and the non-carbon energy will be used as much as possible to replace fossil energy for power generation and hydrogen production, so as to build a "new power system or energy supply system". The second end is energy consumption, which aims to replace fossil energy consumption with non-carbon energy such as electricity, hydrogen energy, geothermal energy and solar energy in the vast majority of areas such as residential life, transportation, industry, agriculture and construction. The third end is the artificial carbon sequestration end, through the combination of ecological construction, soil carbon sequestration, carbon capture and storage to remove the carbon dioxide that has to be emitted. In short, it is to choose appropriate technical means to achieve "carbon reduction, carbon sequestration", and gradually achieve carbon neutrality.

He believes that the process of "carbon neutrality" is both a challenge and an opportunity. The process will be a big transformation of the economy and society, and a big change involving a wide range of fields. "Technology is king" will be fully reflected in this process. In this round of "great transformation" need to be in the energy structure, energy consumption, man-made carbon power "" three end, the money will be astronomical, never rely on government subsidies to meet, must adhere to market-oriented, encourage competition, steady progress, in the process, in particular to prevent energy prices rise obviously, affect residents' life and product exports.

'The project team believes that China's academic community should keep an open attitude, participate extensively, and give play to imagination and creativity,' Ding said. The relevant departments of the state should consider going through a period of "contention of a hundred schools of thought" before deciding on the road map, and should not be in a hurry to "shut up". He also suggested in-depth studies on issues such as the allocation of future emission rights and the reporting and verification of carbon emissions. In terms of technological support, there are still many basic scientific issues such as the sensitivity of carbon dioxide to warming that need to be further studied. The tech world still has a long way to go to be carbon neutral.