Research on the Legal Positioning and Implementation Mechanism of China’s Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals under the Paris Agreement

Abstract

The proposal of China’s “dual carbon” goals holds dual international legal implications within the framework of the Paris Agreement: it constitutes both a treaty-based performance of obligations and a unilateral legal act under international law. The Paris Agreement establishes a compliance mechanism centered on nationally determined contributions (NDCs), supplemented by a transparency framework and global stocktake. Its legal characteristics are facilitative, non-confrontational, and procedural. Within this institutional structure, the “dual carbon” goals, as China’s NDC commitments, are subject to international review through the enhanced transparency framework and participate in collective effort assessment under the global stocktake mechanism. From the perspective of international treaty law, this paper analyzes the international legal positioning of the “dual carbon” goals, elucidates the legal structure of the Paris Agreement’s compliance mechanism, and explores China’s legal pathways for implementation, including the fulfillment of transparency obligations, participation mechanisms in the compliance committee, and the synergy between domestic and international law. The study argues that China should uphold the jurisprudential foundation of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” and construct an integrated domestic and international compliance legal system by “internalizing” international rules into domestic legislation and “externalizing” domestic rule-of-law practices into the creation of international rules.