Guidance of National Determined Contributions in the Rulebook of the Paris Agreement and Its Implications for China

Abstract

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) was convened in the Polish city Katowice in December 2018. The CMA adopted a set of detailed rules of the Paris Agreement, which enshrine the guidance on the features, information and accounting for National Determined Contributions (NDCs). The guidance establishes bottom-up and self-defined arrangements, reflects the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, allows the inclusion of components other than mitigation in the NDCs, and provides adequate time for the Parties to apply the rules. The NDC guidance will strongly affect China’s future implementation of the Paris Agreement and its negotiations in the global arena. After a comparative analysis between China's submitted NDCs and the guidance, this paper identifies their differences, and suggests that China needs to provide, in its second and subsequent NDCs, more complete and detailed information in seven areas, including especially quantifiable information on the reference point, time frame, scope and coverage, planning processes, assumptions and methodological approaches. Besides, in updating its NDCs in 2020, China should also consider the dynamics at home and abroad such as the call for “boosting ambition” at the 2019 Climate Action Summit, and respond them with notable strategies.