China’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is bold, but it still has a long way to go

According to the State Council’s Carbon Reduction Plan for 2024-2025, China will aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3.9% for each unit of GDP over the next year, which translates to a total of about 260 million tons of carbon dioxide over the next two years. years. years.

To achieve this, the State Council called for expanded renewable energy sources and infrastructure to account for 18.9% of energy consumption in 2024 and increase to 20% in 2025. In addition to reducing coal consumption by 50 million tons, Beijing also introduced a ban on excessive production steel – crucial to China’s green technology boom, but notoriously polluting.

The plan is a step towards China’s ultimate goal of peaking emissions by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral by 2060. There are signs that China is on track to meet these goals, but the ambitions of Chinese companies diverge from the green tech industry and government could further complicate these efforts.