China’s carbon neutral goal: could small steps prove smarter than great leaps?

It is rare for China’s Communist Party to mention the Great Leap Forward, one of the darkest chapters of the Mao Zedong era, but an economic guru did so last month after the country’s push towards carbon neutrality was interrupted by power cuts.

More than half of the country’s provinces had rationed electricity in the face of surging coal prices and aggressive energy consumption curbs to meet the central government’s annual emissions reduction targets.

Those targets could help China meet goals outlined by President Xi Jinping to reach peak carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. But September’s rationing caused heating, lifts and traffic lights to be switched off and prompted questions over how best to balance a long-term vision with immediate local needs.

Han Wenxiu, of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, referenced Mao when he said last month that local governments should “learn the lessons of the Great Leap Forward and People’s Commune campaign in the 1950s, and seek progress while maintaining stability in our efforts to achieve carbon peak, carbon neutrality and common prosperity”.