State Council’s new plan prioritises nuclear and renewable growth to balance surging AI power demand, with climate pledges and aims to overhaul industrial sectors
Beijing has signalled unyielding conviction in its latest action plan to peak emissions within five years, as the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases vows to bolster nuclear and green offerings while ensuring energy security for the economy and burgeoning artificial intelligence sector.
Key metrics in the plan include lowering China’s carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 17 per cent by 2030, relative to 2025 levels, and raising the share of non-fossil energy in total consumption to 25 per cent – reinforcing targets set in recent years.
To wean the nation off fossil-fuel sources, which still make up the majority of supplies, the plan details measures including the clean substitution of coal and the optimisation of oil and gas structures. The country’s use of coal and oil will peak during the 2026-to-2030 period, it declared.
The plan also highlights the need to transform computing infrastructure – the backbone of China’s AI sector – as the drive to shift the growth pattern and close the tech gap with the United States has seen electricity demand skyrocket. New data and computing facilities will primarily use power from non-fossil-fuel supplies, the plan said.
The world’s second-largest economy will also sustain a massive buildout of clean-energy bases, encompassing wind and solar hubs in the northwest, hydro-wind-solar integrated bases in the southwest, nuclear power projects along the coast, and offshore wind farms.
This is not a task that can be accomplished easily
By 2030, the total installed capacity of wind and solar power will exceed 2.8 billion kilowatts, hydropower installed capacity will hit 410 million kilowatts, and nuclear power capacity in operation will reach 110 million kilowatts, according to the plan.
Meanwhile, officials with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, told state media that there was a solid foundation for reaching the 2030 goal “as scheduled”. Lauding progress such as the rapid electrification of the automobile sector and the fastest drop in carbon intensity among major economies, they said China was bolstering global efforts to fight climate change.
However, officials also conceded that more conviction was needed to press ahead with the “broad and profound” energy transformation. “This is not a task that can be accomplished easily,” they warned, pointing to external complexities and the “arduous” nature of transforming domestic growth drivers, Xinhua quoted unidentified NDRC officials as saying on Thursday.
Other priorities in the plan include overhauling traditional sectors such as steel, electrolytic aluminium and chemicals; improving provincial grid interconnectivity and power transmission; and promoting zero-carbon factories and low-carbon public institutions and means of transport.
On the policy front, the plan calls for enhanced carbon-accounting systems, promising financial backing and refined pricing mechanisms.
Beijing will also monitor emission-reduction progress at local levels, warning that officials who are slow to accomplish decarbonisation goals will be held accountable.
Source: South China Morning Post