New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Growing out of coal: China’s green spring
19/6/2024
10 min read
Feature
China is excelling in the investment in, manufacture and installation of renewable energy, but still faces significant challenges in decreasing its emissions, reports Charlie Bush.
Taking all governments’ 2030 targets into account, the world remains on a path towards a devastating 2.5°C of warming by the end of the century, 0.1°C higher than last year’s predictions, according to Climate Action Tracker. And China is far from a model of sustainability for other countries to follow. It remains the world’s largest source of emissions, responsible for nearly 30% of the total 50bn tonnes of anthropogenic greenhouse gases produced in 2022.
Nevertheless, China has made tremendous progress in three key areas: investing in renewables, installing capacity for renewable energy and production, and export of renewable energy technology.
However, China still relies heavily on coal, which accounted for over 56% of the country’s total energy consumption in 2022. Reducing coal use is a major challenge for China’s energy transition, as renewables have so far only offset around 10–15% of coal consumption for electricity generation and there is a great deal more coal capacity being commissioned and constructed, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).