The manufacturing drive risks counteracting the emissions gains of China’s clean-energy drive
China is responsible for 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions and for 90% of the growth in CO2 emissions since 2015.
Peaking its CO2 emissions, and then achieving substantial reductions over the next decade, will be key to keeping alive the global Paris Agreement targets for limiting warming.
Clean-energy growth accelerated massively in China in the 2020s, and especially in 2023. However, a simultaneous surge in the growth of energy consumption led fossil-fuel consumption and CO2-emissions growth to accelerate regardless.
China’s emissions trajectory over the next decade will be determined by two questions. Will energy-demand growth return to pre-pandemic levels after the surge seen in the past few years? And will clean-energy growth continue?
Read the full article on Dialogue Earth.