Despite pledges to phase out fossil fuels, China has admitted it is far from peaking its carbon emissions, given its huge population and likely continued growth in energy demand.
The country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) issued an official statement on Thursday saying the country will reform and improve its electricity grid to accommodate more renewable energy sources and enhance green energy trading.
But China is still “a developing country pursuing modernization for a huge population,” said Song Wen, head of the law and institutional reform department at the NEA, and “great efforts are still needed to achieve the goals of maximum carbon emissions and carbon neutrality.”
NEA head Zhang Jianhua also said that China will have invested $676 billion (4.79 trillion yuan) in energy transition by 2023.
A recent report from GlobalData, Offshore technology‘s parent company, revealed that China’s solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity reached 609.5 GW in 2023, while onshore and offshore wind capacity amounted to 408.1 GW and 37.7 GW respectively.
Although China’s energy transition has accelerated in recent years, with the construction of large solar, wind, hydro and nuclear power projects, the country is still one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, largely due to its continued use of coal and oil.
A recent report from the Energy Institute found that the Global consumption of fossil fuels Energy sources such as coal and oil hit a record high in 2023, pushing emissions above 40 gigatons of carbon dioxide for the first time.
Fossil fuel consumption increased by 1.5% to 505 exajoules, despite a simultaneous increase in the use of renewable energy in 2023.
While developed economies have peaked in greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector, developing countries continue to increase their use of coal, gas and oil, the report found.
As part of the post-Covid-19 recovery, the report said that China’s fossil fuel use increased by 6%, but its share of primary energy has declined since 2011, falling to just over 80% in 2023.
“China shows cautious optimism on energy transition, but peak emissions still far away” was originally created and published by Offshore technologya brand of GlobalData.
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