Major progress made toward carbon targets

Editor's note: China Daily is publishing a series illustrating the country's efforts to achieve its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.

China made significant progress toward achieving its long-term climate targets in 2024, spearheading the global energy transition at an unprecedented rate of growth around the globe.

Against this backdrop, experts are increasingly optimistic about the country's advancements in meeting its climate commitments. This positive momentum, however, does not guarantee a seamless journey toward peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, with significant challenges remaining ahead.

With increasing renewable capacity coming online, coal-fired power plants are more frequently being used for backup power supply. However, this process of powering up and powering down coal-fired power stations can actually cause more air pollution than consistently operating a station at optimal performance conditions, complicating this phase of curbing emissions.

According to the National Energy Administration, in the first three quarters of 2024, the newly installed capacity for renewable energy power generation across the country surged to 210 million kilowatts.

This marked a 21 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year and represented 86 percent of the total new power generation capacity, it said.

Notably, it said the combined new capacity from wind and solar power generation surpassed 200 million kilowatts.

China's total nuclear power generation capacity in operation and under construction ranks first in the world, said Wang Hongzhi, head of the administration at its annual work conference in December.

In 2024, 11 new nuclear power facilities were approved, making a total of 102 nuclear power units in operation or under construction across the country, with a total installed capacity of 113 million kilowatts, he said.

In 2025, China will greenlight a series of coastal nuclear power projects and progressively propel the ongoing construction of others, he said. By the end of that year, the operational nuclear power capacity in China is projected to reach 65 million kilowatts.

A recent report from Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy based in the United Kingdom, said China continues to lead the global energy transition, on its path to source 50 percent of its power from low-carbon energy including hydro, solar, wind, nuclear and energy storage by 2028.

"Never has the world witnessed the pace of growth or transformation of an energy system that China is currently achieving," said Malcolm Forbes-Cable, vice-president of upstream and carbon management at Wood Mackenzie.

By 2025, China's installed solar and wind capacity will exceed that of both Europe and North America, he said.

The report also noted a significant transformation in China's transport sector. By 2034, battery electric vehicles will dominate passenger vehicle sales, reaching a 66 percent market share, it said.