Page 11 - AsiaElec Week 22 2022

AsiaElec EMISSIONS AsiaElec

China aims for 33%

renewable power target as

emissions fall in Q1

CHINA CHINA plans to have 33% of its electricity Starting from late March 2022, the main
sourced from renewables by 2025, up from driver has become harsh coronavirus (COVID-
28.8% in 2020, according to official estimates. 19) control policies.
The National Development and Reform Furthermore, the second quarter of 2022
Commission (NDRC) said in its 14th Five-Year appears highly likely to extend the trend of falling
Plan that non-fossil fuel energy, which includes emissions – even as the construction sector slow-
nuclear, would also account for 20% of the coun- down bottoms out – due to the impact of Covid
try’s primary energy consumption in the same lockdowns becoming much more pronounced.
year, Reuters said. In April, thermal power generation dimin-
Non-fossil fuels accounted for 15.4% of Chi- ished the most since December 2015, the drop
na’s primary energy consumption in 2020. in cement output accelerated and apparent con-
The plan said that renewable output would sumption of refined oil fell by almost as much as
reach 3,300 TWh in 2025, driven by a doubling during the first COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.
of wind and solar power generation. Renewables The largest contributor to the fall in CO2
would account for 50% of the increase in energy emissions in the first quarter of this year was
consumption. the cement industry, where output decreased by
Meanwhile, these targets would require total 12%, followed by the power and steel industries.
additions of 380-430 GW for wind and solar, or The International Energy Agency (IEA) iden-
95-107.5 GW per year between 2022 and 2025, tified that the rebound of global CO2 emissions
China’s PVnews said. above pre-pandemic levels has largely been
The country’s solar and wind power instal- driven by China, where they increased by 750mn
lations have grown in recent years, but the gov- tonnes between 2019 and 2021.
ernment still supports coal where necessary to In 2021 alone, China’s CO2 emissions rose
maintain the country’s security. above 11.9bn tonnes, accounting for 33% of the
China occupies the dual position of being global total. With rapid GDP growth and addi-
both the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) tional electrification of energy services, electric-
emitter and the greatest installer of solar and ity demand in China grew by 10% in 2021, faster
wind capacity. than economic growth at 8.4%. This increase in
Indeed, the country’s carbon emissions fell by demand of almost 700 TWh was the largest ever
an estimated 1.4% in the first three months of experienced in China.
2022, making it the third quarter in a row of fall- Together with India, China’s dominance of
ing emissions, said Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst global emissions is so great that if China and
at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean India are ignored, then global emissions actually
Air. fell in 2021, rather than rose.
Emissions peaked in summer 2021, as the China has outlined details of its plans to bring
government tightened policies on real estate to carbon emissions to a peak before 2030 as part of
mitigate speculation and financial risk, before its wider strategy of reaching net zero by 2060.
starting to fall in the third quarter last year. The However, China’s ability to meet its target for
decline in late 2021 and early 2022 was driven by peak emissions by 2030 has been doubted by the
the continued real estate slowdown and strong IEA, which in September said that Beijing must
increases in clean energy. bring forward the target date to 2025 if it was to
CO2 emissions fell by around 0.5% in the have any chance of reaching carbon neutrality
third quarter of 2021 compared to a year earlier, by 2060.™
Carbon Brief noted.

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