China's commitment to a peak in carbon emissions by 2030, which Premier Li Keqiang declared in Paris on Tuesday, is not just a boon for the UN climate talks in December. It is also of importance to whether the country's economic development can be sustainable or not in the near future.

Given the recent downturn in its economic growth, China will likely face even greater pressure to fulfill the target of increasing the share of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to about 20 percent while reducing its energy intensity by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 from its 2005 level.

It is natural for a country as big and populous as China to discharge a large amount of carbon emissions when it is in the process of industrialization and urbanization. For developed Western countries, their carbon emissions peaked when their per capita gross domestic product exceeded the $20,000 level. If China's greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2030 or even earlier, its per capita GDP will probably be around $15,000.