China’s climate goals: growing energy consumption, slow progress on decarbonisation pose challenges, says NEA director

Name: Chinese scientists try to stop glaciers from melting with innovative thermal blanket
Uploaded: 2024-02-19T06:08:59.000Z
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Description: Chinese scientists try to stop glaciers from melting with innovative thermal blanket

Annual growth in energy consumption from 2021 to 2023 was 1.8 times that of the previous five years, according to the National Energy Administration

Energy conservation and carbon reduction on the consumer side need to be urgently strengthened, says head of NEA

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The Wujing Power Station in Shanghai spews smoke into the atmosphere. China is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter. Photo: Bloomberg

Martin Choi

Published: 2:08pm, 19 Feb 2024Updated: 4:15pm, 19 Feb 2024

China’s growing energy consumption, faltering progress on decarbonisation, and limitations on new energy capacity installation pose major challenges for the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter’s climate goals, according to the head of the National Energy Administration (NEA).

The country’s energy transition faces difficulties including greater-than-expected growth in energy demand which has increased the need for transformation, according to Zhang Jianhua, director of the NEA in a post on the state agency’s official WeChat account on Sunday.

The average annual growth in energy consumption from 2021 to 2023 was 1.8 times that of the previous five years, an increase which was equivalent to the energy consumption of the United Kingdom every year, according to the NEA, which cited Zhang’s comments in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Daily, a state-run newspaper.

“It is expected that rigid growth will be maintained in the future, making it more difficult to coordinate energy security and achieve a low-carbon transition,” said Zhang.

Energy conservation and carbon reduction on the consumer side need to be urgently strengthened, he added.

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Chinese scientists try to stop glaciers from melting with innovative thermal blanket

China’s energy consumption intensity is 1.5 times the world average, with six major industries, including petroleum, chemicals, electric and heat power, accounting for 75 per cent of the nation’s energy consumption, according to the NEA.

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