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Mia Nurmamat

China has unveiled a 17-point renewable-energy-substitution plan that spans multiple industries, aiming to accelerate the nation’s clean-energy transition while taking a gradual approach to phasing out fossil fuels in a bid to avoid crippling power disruptions like those seen in recent years.
The country’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), is urging industries to carry out their energy transition in a “safe”, “orderly” and “diverse” manner. And the underlying goal is to reach a nationwide renewable-energy consumption target for 2025 that is equivalent to the energy produced from more than 1.1 billion tonnes of standard coal, exceeding the 2022 goal by 100 million tonnes.
By 2030, that coal-use equivalency should rise to 1.5 billion tonnes as the steady increase in renewable energy supports efforts to see carbon emissions peak by that year and to achieve net-zero emissions before 2060 – pledges made by President Xi Jinping in 2020.
“[We need to] comprehensively enhance the capability to supply renewable energy,” said the plan unveiled on Wednesday and jointly issued by six departments. It also emphasised the need to “accelerate the building up of relevant infrastructure”.


After nearly four years of vigorous development in clean-energy sectors – mainly involving solar, wind and marine energies – the world’s biggest carbon emitter has met some targets ahead of schedule.
For instance, China in August achieved its 1,200-gigawatt solar and wind capacity targets six years early, according to the National Energy Administration.
However, clean energy accounted for only 26.4 per cent of China’s total power consumption at the end of last year, while around half of all energy used was generated by burning coal.
“Beijing’s efforts aim not only to fulfil its peak-carbon and carbon-neutrality commitments, but also to enhance energy security, particularly as power shortages have become more frequent in recent years,” said Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform.
In the Wednesday document, the NDRC asked each region to “fully understand the importance and urgency of renewable-energy alternatives” and to accelerate efforts to promote them.
The plan outlined sectors targeted for energy replacement, including traditional industries such as iron and steel, building materials, transport, construction, agriculture, and new infrastructure.
These industries are required to gradually phase out traditional energy sources and opt for clean energy suited to their locations – such as solar, wind, biomass and tidal power.




Beijing is cautiously implementing the plan to avoid disrupting the existing energy supply and production order. It is promoting a complementary system between new and traditional energy sources, integrating new energy facilities with existing power, gas and heat infrastructure, and encouraging the cross-use and blending of energy sources.
Furthermore, the plan encourages market entities – those capable of supplying clean energy – to participate in China’s power market and to establish pilot green-energy parks in economic development zones, fully powered by renewable energy.
Following Xi’s carbon-reduction commitments to the United Nations, Beijing’s strides in research, investment, manufacturing and deployment for decarbonisation have yielded substantial economic gains.
These stem from the nation’s robust exports of electric vehicles, photovoltaics, and lithium batteries – industries that have become points of national pride while resulting in international criticism and tariffs amid overcapacity allegations from the West.
As the world’s largest developer of solar and wind energy, China accounted for 66 per cent of the world’s newly added wind-energy capacity last year, and for more than 60 per cent of the added solar capacity, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a recent report.


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More energy must come from renewable sources, but transition from fossil fuels will be orderly, top economic planner says


More energy must come from renewable sources, but transition from fossil fuels will be orderly, top economic planner says.


China takes aim at energy replacement with plan to rely on renewables, reduce coal use

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}More energy must come from renewable sources, but transition from fossil fuels will be orderly, top economic planner says

More energy must come from renewable sources, but transition from fossil fuels will be orderly, top economic planner says