Green revolution quickens China's carbon goal

One year after China and the US reached agreement, President Xi reiterated the commitment at the historic Paris Climate Change Conference and added that China would reduce its carbon intensity 60 to 65 percent from the 2005 level around 2030.

These commitments have significant impact on energy structure transformation, climate change mitigation and low-carbon development; at the same time, it means that China’s energy-consuming industries will face more challenges from economic growth, energy resource constraints and environmental governance.

A recent research report shows the bright side. According to the China Energy Modeling Forum report released on May 18, China’s energy-related industries will peak carbon emissions from 2025 to 2030, with differences in peaking levels.

The forum, jointly held by Tsinghua University and the Environmental Defense Fund based in New York, collaborated with several domestic universities, think tanks and research institutes to simulate carbon emission peaking scenarios and industry-level energy models, and compared them.

“The carbon emissions of steel and cement industries will peak from 2015 to 2020, while uncertainties exist in electric power and transportation industries,” said Liu Qiang, director of the strategy and planning department of the Beijing-based National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

Demand for steel and cement, key energy-consuming industries, would decrease in 10 years, so the peaking of these two industries would come before 2030, he said.