Green revolution quickens China's carbon goal

Background: Green policy track

From 1980 to 2002, China experienced a 5 percent average annual reduction in energy consumption per unit of GDP. But in a dramatic reversal of this historical trend, energy intensity increased 5 percent per year during 2002–2005.

Since 2006, energy conservation and emissions reductions, or ECER, has become a crucial national policy when the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) first proposed the concept of ECER, set the goal that energy consumption per unit of GDP be reduced by 20 percent and the total discharge of major pollutants be reduced by 10 percent during the 11th Five-Year Plan.

The 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) was a major transformation period in China’s economic and social structures, focusing on ECER. The plan devotes considerable attention to energy use and climate change. Some of the targets represented moredramatic moves to reduce fossil energy consumption and promote low-carbon energy sources. To achieve this target, China set a target of reducing carbon intensity 17 percent from 2010 levels by 2015. Also, China set a new target to reduce energy intensity by an additional 16 percent by 2015.

The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) focuses on developing safe, clean, efficient and sustainable energy systems. In addition to achieving the reduction of carbon emission intensity of 40-45 percent, which China promised in 2009 in Copenhagen, and meeting the goal of carbon emissions peak around 2030, the goal of energy consumption per unit of GDP is a reduction of 15 percent from the 2015 level.

Zhang Yanfei contributed to the story.

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