China is aiming to achieve peak carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday.

In an address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly focused largely on the need for a coordinated global response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Xi said China will scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions under the UN global climate agreement, aka the Paris Agreement, from which the United States formally withdrew at the direction of President Trump.

“Humankind can no longer afford to ignore the repeated warnings of nature and go down the beaten path of extracting resources without investing in conservation, pursuing development at the expense of protection, and exploiting resources without restoration,” Xi...