On 30 March 2021, during the press conference held by the State Council, the Director of the National Energy Administration (NEA), ZHANG Jianhua, introduced the development of China’s renewable energy.
Specifically, the Director highlighted that China is still two five-year plans away from reaching its carbon dioxide emissions peak in 2030. The first is the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), which also marks a critical period for China’s energy strategy towards low carbon. During this period, NEA will vigorously promote green energy consumption models, adopt stricter energy consumption standards, and support the promotion of non-fossil energy in key sectors such as industry, construction, and transportation. NEA will also accelerate the development of new energy vehicles, build photovoltaic integration and other green energy consumption modes, and speed up the replacement of electric energy in heating and cooking, thus improving the level of electrification across all sectors of the society. China’s goal is to reduce, by 2025, the energy consumption per unit of GDP by 13.5%, and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 18%, compared with 2020 levels.
NEA is also planning to promote carbon dioxide emission peak and carbon neutrality in the energy sector, focusing on the promotion of energy low-carbon smart transition, high-quality development of new energy, new power system construction, development of new energy storage, and other key task to formulate supporting policies and measures. At the same time, NEA will ensure that the national and the various provincial-level 14th Five-year Plans for energy will be coordinated, leading to tangible actions for achieving the goals. Finally, NEA will give full play to the leading role of planning, will consolidate the responsibilities of carbon emission reduction at all levels, and will support regions and cities with the necessary conditions to take the lead in achieving carbon peaks before the others.
