India, Sept. 26 -- China on Wednesday announced an update to its carbon dioxide emissions reduction target (or Nationally Determined Contribution, NDC) at the United Nations Climate Summit , positioning itself as the global leader in tackling the climate crisis ahead of the big UN Climate meeting (COP30) in Brazil, although experts adjudged the NDC itself as extremely modest.

On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China, world's largest polluter in terms of CO2 emissions, will cut economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10% from peak levels and increase non-fossil fuel energy consumption to over 30% of the total energy consumption by 2025. He also called on countries to adopt low-carbon growth.

China will al...