The Role of Energy in China's 2035 Sustainability Goals
China was responsible for 30% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 according to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.
This equated to nearly 16 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions.
In 2020, China set forth ambitious targets to peak CO₂ emissions before 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
In preparation for the United Nations COP30, President Xi Jinping announced that China’s updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) would encompass all economic sectors and all greenhouse gases, beyond just CO₂.
“Since I announced the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals five years ago, China has built the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system, built the world's largest and most complete new energy industry chain and contributed a quarter of the world's new green area,” said President Xi Jinping.
“No matter how the international situation changes, China's active actions to respond to climate change will not slow down, its efforts to promote international cooperation will not weaken and its efforts to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind will not stop.”
UN Secretary General António Guterres said: “As we heard today, the world is moving forward. Full-speed ahead. No group or government can stop the clean energy revolution.”
What’s behind China’s climate goals?
Under the Paris Agreement, nations are required to submit and revise their NDCs every five years.
These contributions serve as short to medium term plans with each iteration expected to reflect heightened ambitions compared to its predecessor.
The upcoming third round of NDCs, due in 2025, will lay out national actions through 2035, integrating insights from the Global Stocktake.
China plans to release its new NDCs before COP30, which is scheduled in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025.
Outside of these targets, in February 2025 the Chinese government announced that it intends to effectively eliminate severe air pollution before 2026.
The primary sources of China’s emissions are the power sector, contributing to 48% of CO₂ emissions from energy and industrial processes.
The industrial sector follows with 36%, transport with 8% and buildings with 5%, as reported by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Renewable energy and coal
The energy sector accounts for nearly 90% of China’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the IEA.
Energy policy therefore has a big role to play in moving the country towards its goals.
It forecasts that under China's current pledges, low-carbon energy will surpass fossil fuels by 2040, with fossil fuel usage peaking in 2025.
China’s initiatives in low-carbon technologies, underpinned by governmental five-year plans, have led to global cost reductions in cleaner energy, particularly in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology.
By 2060, renewables are anticipated to constitute 80% of China’s electricity generation.
Additionally, China’s public investments in low-carbon energy R&D have surged by 70% since 2015, positioning the country as a leader in patenting activities related to renewables and electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide.
Electrification
Promoting electrification could address emissions across China’s major emitting sectors: industry, transport and buildings.
These technologies can reduce direct fossil fuel use and allow these industries to benefit from cleaner energy as the power generation sector is decarbonised.
Electrification technologies frequently offer enhanced energy efficiency over their fossil fuel based counterparts, with potential reductions in China’s overall power consumption.
In 2023, around 60% of new electric car registrations were in China and more than one in three new cars registered were electric according to the IEA.
It also exported 1.2 million EVs in 2023.
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