Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality China's Plans and Solutions

Preface

Earth is the only home of all humanity, and tackling climate change and promoting sustainable development are vital to our survival and future. Since the Industrial Revolution, great material wealth has come at the cost of faster depletion of natural resources and disruption to the ecological balance, intensifying the tensions between humanity and nature. In recent years, the harmful effects of climate change have grown more prominent, making a coordinated global response ever more urgent.

The major decision to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality was made by China out of a strong sense of responsibility for human civilization and the intrinsic demands of China's sustainable development. President Xi Jinping has affirmed many times China's resolve to meet the goals of peak carbon and carbon neutrality on major multilateral and bilateral occasions. On September 22, 2020, at the general debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, President Xi announced that China would strive to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. On December 12, 2020, he presented China's 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) at the Climate Ambition Summit. On September 24, 2025, at the UN Climate Summit, President Xi further clarified China's 2035 NDCs, injecting greater impetus and more certainty into the global climate governance and demonstrating China's stance as a responsible major country that champions integrity.

China always honors its commitments. Five years after the announcement of its ambitious peak carbon and carbon neutrality goals, the country has achieved historic results in advancing the green and low-carbon transition through concrete action and painstaking efforts, adhering to the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.

China has established the most systematic and comprehensive carbon reduction policy framework in the world, built the largest and the fastest-growing renewable energy system, the largest and most complete new energy industrial chain, and achieved the world's largest and fastest promotion and adoption of new energy vehicles. It has contributed about one-fourth of the newly added green areas worldwide, and ranks among the countries with the fastest decline in energy consumption intensity. China has blazed a viable trail for developing countries to pursue green and low-carbon development, thereby making significant contributions to global climate action and the sustainable development of humanity.

The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Over the past decade, despite ups and downs in global climate governance, green and low-carbon development has become an unstoppable trend. Currently, global transformation on a scale unseen in a century is accelerating, and global climate governance has entered a new and critical phase. Concrete efforts are better than empty rhetoric and inaction. Only through concrete measures and solid actions can we turn the goals of tackling climate change into reality, and only then can we better protect Earth, the shared home of humanity.

The Chinese government is publishing this white paper to present a comprehensive overview of China's major achievements in pursuing peak carbon and carbon neutrality over the past five years, and to share China's approaches, actions, and experience.

I. Staying Firmly Committed to Advancing Peak Carbon and Carbon Neutrality

China has made peak carbon and carbon neutrality a national strategy, launching extensive and in-depth peak carbon initiatives and accelerating a full-scale green transition of its economy and society. In doing so, China has forged a development path that puts eco-environmental conservation first and pursues green and low-carbon growth.

1. Peak Carbon and Carbon Neutrality Is the Only Way Forward

Achieving these goals is essential for China to ease pressure on resource and environmental constraints and secure sustainable development. Humanity and nature are a community of life, and harmony between the two is the corner stone of lasting progress. By promoting peak carbon and carbon neutrality and steering economic and social development to become green and low-carbon, China can safeguard the security of food and energy, industrial and supply chains, providing solid environmental and resource guarantees for higher-quality and more sustainable growth.

Achieving peak carbon and carbon neutrality is essential in enabling China to sustain technological progress and promote the transformation and upgrading of the economic structure. As the new revolution in science, technology and industry accelerates, promoting peak carbon and carbon neutrality can make the green transition a growth engine to facilitate the upgrading of the economic, energy, and industrial structures, to incentivize collaborative innovation and integrated development between traditional and emerging industries, and to foster new drivers and strengths for high-quality development.

Achieving peak carbon and carbon neutrality is an urgent requirement to meet the people's growing desire for a beautiful eco-environment and to promote harmony between humanity and nature. A good eco-environment is the most fundamental public good and the most inclusive contributor to public wellbeing. Advancing peak carbon and carbon neutrality entails a green and low-carbon transition in our work and life: It will help address environmental problems at source, meet the people's growing demand for a beautiful eco-environment, and strengthen the people's sense of gain, fulfillment and security.

Achieving peak carbon and carbon neutrality is a proactive commitment to fulfilling China's responsibilities as a major country and building a community with a shared future for humanity. In the face of climate change challenges, we all share a common future. Advancing peak carbon and carbon neutrality means that China, as the world's largest developing country, will achieve the highest reduction in carbon emission intensity and complete the transition from peak carbon to carbon neutrality quicker than any other country. This requires an arduous effort. It is a testament to China's commitment to upholding multilateralism and demonstrates China's firm resolve to play its part in building a clean and beautiful world.

2. Promoting Peak Carbon and Carbon Neutrality Systematically

As the largest developing country with a population of over 1.4 billion, China's task of generating economic growth and improving the well-being of the people remains onerous. Achieving peak carbon and carbon neutrality is therefore a multidimensional, multifaceted and systematic undertaking. It requires that China strike a balance between growth and emissions reduction, between a holistic approach and targeted measures, between long-term vision and short-term delivery, and between the government and the market. The following principles guide every step:

Pooling strengths nationwide. China ensures a coordinated national response through stronger top-level design, steering every sector and every link of the economy onto a green, low-carbon path. The National Development and Reform Commission fully leverages its role in coordinating provincial authorities and central departments to drive progress towards peak carbon and carbon neutrality in an active and prudent manner.

Prioritizing conservation. China regards the conservation of energy and other resources as a top priority and operates a comprehensive conservation strategy.

Consumption of energy and other resources and carbon emissions per unit of GDP are falling, and simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyles are being encouraged to rein in carbon emissions at source.

Leveraging the roles of the government and the market. China is mobilizing both the government and the market, intensifying technological and institutional innovation, and accelerating the green and low-carbon technological revolution. Meanwhile, it furthers reforms in the energy sector and relevant fields to exert the role of the market mechanism and form an effective incentive and constraint mechanism.

Coordinating domestic and international efforts. China prioritizes international exchanges and cooperation, aligns domestic and overseas energy and other resources, and promotes world-leading green and low-carbon technologies and experience, while advancing a global climate governance system that is fair, equitable and cooperative and delivers win-win results.

Guarding against risks. In line with China's national conditions and the principle of establishing the new before discarding the old, China is ensuring security for food and energy, industrial and supply chains, and guaranteeing quality of life while pursuing green and low-carbon transition. China strives to defuse all types of risk and avert hidden dangers to ensure the safe reduction of carbon emissions.

3. A Policy Framework for Peak Carbon and Carbon Neutrality

To achieve the carbon goals, China has formulated the "1+N" policy framework — the most systematic and comprehensive carbon reduction policy framework in the world, with its clearly defined timetable, road map, and action plan.

Within this framework, the "1" stands for the guiding principles and top-level design for achieving peak carbon and carbon neutrality. At the national level, the country has issued the Working Guidance for Carbon Dioxide Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in Full and Faithful Implementation of the New Development Philosophy, and the Action Plan for Carbon Dioxide Peaking Before 2030, which map out and coordinate relevant work in a systematic way. The two documents outline ten key actions for reaching peak carbon emissions. These measures comprise:

・ accelerating the transition to green and low-carbon energy;

・ improving energy saving, carbon reduction, and efficiency;

・ ensuring peak carbon emissions are achieved in the industrial sector;

・ advancing efforts to reach peak carbon in urban and rural development;

・ promoting green and low-carbon transport;

・ facilitating the reduction of carbon emissions through the Circular Economy;

・ fostering innovation in green and low-carbon technology;

・ consolidating and improving carbon sink capacity;

・ advocating a green and low-carbon lifestyle nationwide;

・ orchestrating region-specific pathways to achieve peak carbon across the country.

"N" encompasses action plans for peak carbon and carbon neutrality in key sectors, industries, and administrative districts. Relevant departments have released action plans for key sectors such as energy, industry, transport, urban-rural development, agriculture and the countryside, and for key industries including coal, oil, natural gas, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, petrochemical and chemical, and building materials. These are backed by supporting plans encompassing areas such as scientific and technological support, fiscal policy, green finance, green consumption, the carbon sink capacity of the eco-environment, pollution reduction and carbon reduction, statistical accounting, standards and measurements, cultivation of professionals, and the training of officials. Furthermore, 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government in China have formulated their own regional peak carbon action plans.

II. Notable Progress in Green and Low-Carbon Energy Transition

Energy is the force that drives the progress of human civilization. It affects both daily life and national security and stability. Energy consumption is the major source of carbon emissions, while green and low-carbon energy transition is the key to realizing the goals of achieving peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality. Proceeding from its basic reality and development stage and conditional on ensuring energy security, China has taken vigorous measures to substitute renewables for fossil fuels and promoted a new energy and power system. This provides strong support for achieving the dual carbon goals.

1. The Surging Development of Non-Fossil Energy

China is committed to the principle of establishing the new before decommissioning the old. Great prominence has been given to non-fossil energy. As a result, China has achieved new energy development on the largest scale and at the fastest speed in the world. The percentage of non-fossil energy consumption increased from 16.0 percent in 2020 to 19.8 percent in 2024.

Vigorously developing wind and photovoltaic power. China emphasizes both centralized and distributed power generation. It is actively promoting the construction of large-scale wind and photovoltaic power bases on infertile and rocky terrain and in deserts, steadily developing offshore wind farms, actively promoting rooftop photovoltaic power generation in urban and rural areas, and encouraging distributed wind power generation in rural areas. By the end of August 2025, the installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic power had surpassed 1,690 GW, triple that of 2020 and accounting for about 80 percent of the newly installed power generation capacity since 2020. The percentage of wind and photovoltaic power is steadily increasing at an average annual rate of 2.2 percentage points.

Developing hydropower as conditions permit. Hydropower is an important source of clean energy and provides a flexible supply of electricity in western China. Sound measures have been taken to coordinate hydropower development and eco-environmental conservation and integrate the development of wind, photovoltaic and hydropower. China is making active yet prudent efforts to construct critical hydropower projects on major rivers in the southwest, and to develop and build pumped-storage hydroelectric plants. By the end of August 2025, the regular installed hydropower capacity in China stood at around 380 GW, and that of pumped-storage hydropower stations at about 62.37 GW.

Pursuing robust, safe and orderly development of nuclear power. Nuclear power is an efficient and high-quality clean energy source. China is committed to developing nuclear power with the absolute requirement that safety is guaranteed, and to promoting the use of nuclear energy in clean heating, industrial heating, and seawater desalination. By the end of August 2025, China had 112 nuclear power units in operation, under construction, or approved for construction, with a combined installed capacity of 125 GW, ranking first globally. The strictest safety standards and regulations have made China a world leader in the safe operation of nuclear power.

Boosting the development of green hydrogen, biomass, geothermal and ocean energy. China is committed to the strategy of innovation-driven development. It actively promotes the whole-chain development of hydrogen in production, storage, transport and application, and is accelerating the cultivation of new products, new business forms, and new models. By the end of 2024, China led the world in the annual production capacity of green hydrogen energy — over 150,000 tonnes. China has diversified the exploration and utilization of biomass energy in accordance with local conditions. It is steadily advancing electricity generation from agricultural and forestry biomass, biogas, and urban domestic Waste Incineration. It is also promoting the use of biomass energy for clean heating, and the application of clean liquid fuels, such as bioethanol and biodiesel. By the end of August 2025, the installed capacity of biomass power generation had reached 46.88 GW, a 60 percent increase over 2020. In addition, China has built a series of centralized heating projects powered by geothermal energy. It is also reinforcing pilot demonstrations on harnessing ocean power such as tidal and wave energy. Progress has been made in the large-scale utilization of ocean energy.

2. Accelerating Clean and Efficient Utilization of Fossil Energy

China has continued to improve the clean and efficient utilization of fossil energy and rationally control its consumption. The proportion of fossil energy consumed dropped from 84.0 percent in 2020 to 80.2 percent in 2024.

Promoting clean and efficient use of coal, reducing its consumption, and replacing it with alternative energy resources. Based on its energy and resource endowment with coal as the mainstay, China is making coordinated progress in the stable supply of coal and low-carbon transition. It has intensified its efforts to develop eco-friendly and intelligent mines, and to reduce carbon emissions in the mining process.

Measures have been taken to realize the energy-saving and low-carbon transformation of coal-fired power units and phase out outdated production capacity in the coal-fired power industry. Over the past decade, more than 100 GW of outdated production capacity has been phased out. China has also intensified its effort to reduce coal consumption and replace it with alternative energy resources in key industries and sectors. It is increasing the proportion of clean energy and the rate of electrification in the industrial sector, and replacing bulk coal with clean energy in a steady and orderly manner. The proportion of coal in China's total energy consumption dropped from 56.7 percent in 2020 to 53.2 percent in 2024.

Advancing the green transition of oil and gas exploitation and utilization. China has fully implemented green production of oil and gas across the country. It is promoting the construction of green oil and gas fields and advancing the transformation and upgrading of crude oil refining and petrochemical industry, thereby realizing energy savings and reducing carbon emissions in the production process. It has accelerated replacement of traditional fuels with advanced biomass liquid fuels and sustainable aviation fuels. It has launched campaigns to upgrade the quality of refined oil products. In less than 10 years, the quality of refined oil has been upgraded by three levels, from Level III to Level VI, which took developed countries almost 30 years. As a result, vehicle exhaust emissions have been effectively reduced.

3. Greater Regulation Capacity of the Power System

With the large-scale development of new energy, China has substantially improved the reliability and resilience of its power system. It is now accelerating the construction of a new-type power system that is clean and low-carbon, secure and sufficient, economic and efficient, flexible and intelligent, and well-coordinated between supply and demand. It is integrating the development of power source-grid-load-storage, achieving large-scale development and application of renewable energy.

Improving the coordination and operation capacity of power sources. China takes full advantage of the flexibility of coal power, and is upgrading coal-fired power units to achieve flexible load regulation. More than 50 percent of coal-fired power units in China are now equipped with deep peak-shaving technologies. China is also building peak-shaving natural gas power stations, pumped-storage hydroelectric plants, and solar power plants adapted to local conditions, and increasing large-scale use of new power storage technologies. In addition, it is steadily achieving dispatch optimization through multi-energy complementarity on the power supply side and fully tapping the potential for peak-shaving. As a result, the safe operation and comprehensive regulation capabilities of the power system have greatly improved.

Strengthening complementarity and mutual assistance between power grids. China has implemented innovations to the structure, form, and operation mode of power grids, made them smarter, and adapted them to large-scale centralized new energy resources and distributed energy with vast volume and wide coverage. It has consolidated the physical foundations of a stable power system by improving the main framework of the power grid. An interconnected and mutually complementary power grid system covering six regions has been set up, substantially increasing the power allocation capacity across provinces and regions. In 2024, the amount of electricity transmitted across regions and provinces reached 924.7 TWh and 2,000 TWh respectively, up by 50 percent and 30 percent compared with 2020. The power distribution network has been upgraded to increase the capacity to accommodate new energy power. China is also actively developing smart microgrids, mainly for absorbing new energy to achieve compatibility and complementarity with the main power grids.

Promoting electricity load flexibility. China systematically integrates the resources of demand response, guides users to optimize their electricity storage and consumption mode, and releases a high proportion of electricity load flexibility for residents and general industry and commerce. Considering the high proportion of industrial electricity load, China encourages enterprises with high electricity loads to participate in the ancillary service market, increasing the demand response capacity and making the power system more flexible. The goal is to have the demand response capability account for 3 to 5 percent of the maximum electricity load by 2025, with that in eastern, central, and southern China reaching 5 percent.

Strengthening new types of energy storage. Energy storage is an important foundation for a new-type power system. China is integrating energy storage in all the stages of the power system. It is developing "new energy + energy storage", and integrating power source-grid-load-storage, as well as multi-energy complementarity.

With a focus on key grid nodes or remote areas, it is establishing rational new energy storage configurations. It also encourages electric vehicles and uninterruptible power supplies to participate in system peak shaving and frequency regulation, and promotes the diversified application of technologies, including lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries, compressed air energy storage, gravity energy storage, and flywheel energy storage. By the end of 2024, the installed capacity of new energy storage had reached 73.76 GW/168 GWh. This is 20 times the capacity in 2020, and represents more than 40 percent of the global total.