China unveils three major climate change documents in three days, doubling down on clean energy buildout plans
- NDRC has unveiled a new plan for renewable energy during the 14th five-year period from 2021 to 2025
- China has introduced three high-level documents to boost green transition and to support country’s dual-carbon goals.
China this week released three top-level documents on fighting climate change, doubling down on its plan to produce more renewable power and expand green financing to meet the country’s carbon neutrality goals by 2060.
China’s top economic regulator, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), on Wednesday unveiled a new plan for renewable energy during the 14th five-year period from 2021 to 2025, to guide development of the sector in support of China’s 2060 carbon-neutral goals.
By 2025, annual electricity generation from renewable energy should reach 3,300 terawatt-hours (TWh), and the share of power generated from renewable energy should account for 50 per cent of the total increase in the country’s electricity consumption. Power generation from wind and solar power should double at the same time, according to NDRC.
The new document re-emphasised China’s targets to increase the installed capacity of wind and solar power to 1,200 gigawatts (GW) and raise the share of non-fossil fuel energy consumption to 25 per cent of the total energy mix by 2030.
Under the plan, China’s total renewable energy consumption should reach about 1 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent by 2025, as the share of non-fossil fuel energy accounts for 20 per cent of total energy use by the same time. If successful, it should help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 2.6 billion tonnes annually, according to NDRC.
“There were worries that China may scale down its decarbonisation efforts due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, energy security concerns, and disruptions to supply chains because of China’s COVID-19 policies,” said Qin Yan, lead carbon analyst at data provider Refinitiv.