China's Role in Global Climate Change Mitigation

(February 2023) As the world’s largest emitter, China’s carbon emissions account for 28% of the global total, surpassing those of the US and Europe combined since 2012. The fastest increase in carbon emissions were observed from 2000 to 2013. China therefore has a key role in global climate change mitigation.

• Data from EDGAR shows that 80% of China’s carbon emissions are from electric power generation and industrial sources, since its rapid industrialization, urbanization and globalization are powered by a coal-dominated energy system.
• China has adopted a low-carbon strategy for its economic development. With large-scale deployment of renewable power generation, particularly hydro, wind, and solar, the share of fossil fuel has reached an all-time low and coal consumption has plateaued.

China plans to become carbon neutral by 2060. According to the research conducted by scientists from the Tsinghua University, China has already met several national environmental targets: as of 2020, carbon intensity was reduced by 18.8% relative to the 2015 level, the share of non-fossil consumption as part of the total primary energy consumption was increased to 15.9%, and forest stock volume was increased to over 17.5 billion m³, exceeding the targets of 18%, 15% and 16.5 billion m³, respectively.