Editorial | China has to get balance right on clean energy
- Country experiencing boom in coal-fired projects will have to reconcile carbon targets and emissions to achieve neutrality without inhibiting economic growth
These figures amount to three and five times as much as the rest of the world combined respectively, casting a shadow over the carbon neutrality goal.
This raises a debate that has been running for a decade. The numbers may suggest that Beijing is just paying lip service to goals to cut emissions under the Paris climate accords. But given the country’s size and abundant coal reserves as opposed to scarce energy alternatives, and its needs to sustain economic growth, it is unrealistic to expect it to focus just on reducing carbon emissions; or to phase out coal-fired plants at the pace of some European countries.
Alternatives including renewables such as wind and solar power are not going to replace coal in the short term.
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China’s interest in cleaner energy technologies and investment is twofold – an urgent need to improve air quality through reducing emissions such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, and an abiding need to rein in carbon emissions to meet reduction goals.