China plans to reduce its carbon intensity, or carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product, by 17% during its current five-year plan, according to official documents released on Thursday, an acceleration from the period from 2020 to 2025, reported Reuters.
China’s new five-year plan, released on Thursday, called for replacing 30 million metric tons per year of coal with renewables and pushing to reach peak coal, but did not put further limits on coal consumption. During the five-year plan that ended last year, China reduced its carbon intensity by 12%.
In 2026, it plans to cut its carbon intensity by around 3.8%, according to a report from China’s top state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). China has said it expects that its carbon emissions will peak before 2030.
The new carbon intensity goal fell short of some analysts’ expectations. Research from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that China would need to accelerate the pace of its carbon intensity reductions to 23% over the next five years after it lagged on a Paris Agreement commitment to reduce carbon intensity by more than 65% by 2030 as compared to 2005.
“How quickly carbon intensity is reduced largely depends on how much renewable energy can be supplied,” said Yao Zhe, a Beijing-based policy advisor for Greenpeace East Asia.
In the next five years, China will also introduce a mandatory minimum quota system for renewable energy consumption, the NDRC report said.
