China intends to advance ambitious climate action, and research shows the country is already making progress. The country's coal consumption has likely peaked, while renewable energy capacity has expanded significantly.
Four Chinese cities are pursuing systems that turn "sludge," the organic matter left over from treated sewage, into energy. The systems can reduce emissions, energy consumption and water pollution all while saving money.
China has unveiled its 13th Five-Year Plan, which will guide the country's economic and social development from 2016 through 2020. Its new climate and energy targets show that the country will continue its shift to a more sustainable growth model and deliver on its Paris Agreement commitments.
As President Xi Jinping has said, after unprecedented economic expansion since 1990, China now needs to embrace a new economic model that focuses more on the quality rather than the quantity of growth. Will the new 13th Five-Year Plan be able to deliver this?
In a few days, China will release its 13th Five-Year Plan, a new economic, social and environmental blueprint for the country's development through 2020. Recent signs show that the country is already beginning to shift toward a low-carbon pathway, and the new plan provides the opportunity to build on that progress.
China committed to establish a national emissions-trading program, while the United States announced new actions to help reduce its emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
China is increasing its ambition in addressing climate change, and it has a strong national interest in sustaining its actions. That’s according to a recent panel of experts convened by WRI’s ChinaFAQs project and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
Action from the world's two largest emitters, which together account for 38 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, should inspire greater climate commitments from other nations.
The world’s largest emitter plans to peak its emissions around 2030 and increase its share of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption to around 20 percent by the same year. The country's new climate plan also builds on these commitments with additional announcements on carbon intensity, forests, adaptation and more.
