‘China should set up a carbon cap’ – Zou Ji on the next national energy targets

(Eco Business, 3 Jul 2020) China is drafting its next Five Year Plan, and the president of Energy Foundation China wants to see ambitious energy and climate goals.

China’s 14th Five Year Plan will guide its development from 2021 to 2025, shaping the economy, energy mix and carbon emissions and much else beside.

But the impact of the coronavirus has introduced great uncertainty to the process. At the recently concluded meeting of the legislature, the Twin Sessions, China announced it would not set a new goal for economic growth during 2020, reflecting how those uncertainties are affecting top-level planning.

The economic slowdown caused by the virus is also causing concern over China’s commitment to a low-carbon green transition. Will China again rely on carbon-intensive infrastructure construction to stimulate the economy as it did in 2008?

Figures from Greenpeace show many Chinese provinces restarted coal-fired power construction in the first five months of this year, with 48GW of generation capacity newly planned, approved or under construction – more than went into operation in all of 2019.

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Eco Business, 3 Jul 2020: ‘China should set up a carbon cap’ – Zou Ji on the next national energy targets