China: Forward with reforms to reduce carbon emissions

Beijing. China will continue to phase out fossil fuels and reform its electricity system, the energy regulator said Thursday, issuing a white paper highlighting the list’s achievements, though new plans for the country’s energy transition are scarce.

National Energy Administration Director Zhang Jianhua said China will continue to reform its power system, expand the spot market, promote green electricity trading and replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. He also called for market-oriented reforms.

Investment in clean energy

At a press conference at the State Council, Zhang said China invested $676 billion in its energy transition last year, citing a figure from research organization BloombergNEF, which estimated that Chinese investment in energy transition accounted for 38 percent of the world’s total.

The world’s second-largest economy has emerged as a global leader in the transition to renewable energy, even though its energy system remains heavily reliant on coal.

Asked whether China’s carbon emissions could peak before its 2030 target, as many experts say they are on track to do, Song Wen, deputy director of the agency’s planning department, said: “The dual carbon target will not be changed and the major targets we have committed to will not be touched.”

Progress and challenges

China had set a goal of installing 1,200 gigawatts of wind and solar power by 2030, but a surge in renewable installations helped it meet that target in July, six years ahead of schedule.

Asked whether China could set an even more ambitious renewable energy target for 2030, Li Changjun, director of the new energy department, said only that China would propose new targets and measures based on its national conditions.

Analysts say China is falling behind on other targets, including reducing its carbon intensity — CO2 emissions per unit of economic output — by 18 percent over the five years to 2030.

According to an analysis by the nonprofit Carbon Brief, it would have to cut absolute emissions by 7 percent annually this year and in 2025 to meet that goal.

The white paper contains a series of previously announced measures, from advancing energy storage technology to promoting energy savings.

In a chapter devoted to promoting a “global community with a shared future,” China is said to be boosting green energy cooperation under its massive Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure program. It singled out Pakistan’s Karot hydroelectric power plant, part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which has come under threat in recent days from attacks by separatist militants.