Climate change is currently regarded as the biggest non-traditional security challenge facing human development. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become a global consensus. Green and low-carbon development is the trend of future global economic and social development. In September 2020, China announced at the General Debate of the 75th United Nations General Assembly that China will strive to peak its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality is an inevitable choice for breaking resource and environmental constraints to realize sustainable development. It is also a solemn commitment to building a community with a shared future for mankind. The major consulting project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering “Research on the Strategies and Paths for Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in China” invited over 40 academicians, 300 experts, and dozens of units to conduct in-depth research. The project aims to lead high-quality development via maintaining low-carbon emissions. It summarizes the major challenges and key tasks for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, studies the problems and specific needs in different fields and stages, and proposes implementation paths and countermeasures for different stages, thereby providing technical and policy support for carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. This special issue publishes the research results of this project. The paths proposed involve power systems, transportation, industrial structure adjustment, natural gas industry, and energy reduction. Frontier developments discussed involve mineral and geothermal energy, ocean thermal energy, new electric power, carbon capture, utilization and storage, and distributed photovoltaic.
