In the early stages of industrialization, most developed countries used high energy consumption and high pollution methods to achieve economic growth. This method also caused the accumulation of global carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. In recent years, a large number of developing countries have risen and their economies have grown rapidly. Due to the rapid consumption of fossil energy and the aggravation of global air pollution, the past high energy consumption and high pollution economic growth methods no longer adapt to the current economic development model. In order to ensure the coordinated development of economic growth and the environment, and to protect our only planet, the world is working hard to explore a new mode of economic growth, that is, “low-carbon development.”

The UK is the first country to put forward the concept of “low carbon” and actively advocate a low carbon economy. The European Union regards low-carbonization as the future direction of economic development and proposed three 20% targets for 2012: the first is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% compared to 1990, and the second is to reduce primary energy consumption compared to 1990. Reduce by 20%, the third is that the proportion of renewable energy has increased by 20% compared to 1990. These three 20% reflect the determination of EU countries to reduce emissions. Japan has pledged to reduce emissions by 60% to 80% by 2050, and includes the development of solar energy in Japan’s economic stimulus plan, and strives to build Japan into the world’s first low-carbon society. China’s “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” has clarified the diversified and clean development of energy, and actively develops other new energy sources such as solar energy, biomass energy, and geothermal energy. Developing countries such as Brazil have also formulated laws and plans for the development of renewable energy. It can be seen that the world economy is moving towards low-carbonization is the general trend.