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| A general view of a Taiyuan New Energy Co wind farm, during an organised media tour, in Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo |
Reuters
BEIJING: China says it will develop a package of major projects to tackle climate change as it moves to bring its carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060.
The
world's largest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gas said it
would develop new offshore wind farms and accelerate the construction of
"new energy bases" across its vast desert areas, the National
Development and Reform Commission, the country's economic planner, said
in an official report published on Wednesday.
"China will actively and prudently work towards peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality," the report read.
Among the proposed projects cited in the report by the state planning agency was a controversial hydropower facility on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet, which has raised concerns in India about its potential impact on downstream water flows.
It
also said it would develop a direct power transmission route connecting
Tibet with Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong in the southeast.
However,
coal will remain a key fuel, with the NDRC report saying the country
will continue to increase coal production and supply this year even as
it plans for trials of low-carbon technology at its coal-fired power
plants and to promote initiatives aimed at substituting fossil fuels
with renewables.
China has been struggling to strike a balance between fostering economic growth and meeting its environmental goals.
The
NDRC said the 3.4% reduction in the amount of carbon emissions per unit
of economic growth last year "fell short of expectations", blaming
rapid growth in energy consumption as well as extreme weather.
China is not expected to meet its five-year goal to bring carbon intensity down by 18% by the end of this year, and it has not yet announced an annual target for 2025.
It
will also struggle to meet a separate target to cut the amount of
energy consumed per unit of growth by 13.5% by the end of this year,
despite exceeding expectations with a 3.8% reduction last year, analysts
said.
"Despite
the world record expansion of renewables, an inconvenient truth is that
China's economy hasn't become much more energy efficient in recent
years," said Yao Zhe, global policy advisor with Greenpeace in Beijing.
Links
- Analysis: China’s emissions have now caused more global warming than EU
- China’s Climate Leadership: Progress, Challenges, and Global Impact
- How does China's green development contribute to global climate action?
- Understanding China's changing climate change rhetoricEU says it sticks to zero-emission car path to 2035
- Exclusive: US withdrawing from plan to help major polluters move from coal, sources say
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