<p><strong>Beijing, China – November 8, 2025</strong> – China's State Council Information Office today released a comprehensive white paper, "China's Actions to Reach Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality," detailing the nation's significant progress and strategic initiatives in its ambitious climate goals.</p>
<h2>China Unveils Ambitious Climate Action Roadmap in New White Paper</h2>
<p>The white paper, released in Beijing, serves as a definitive account of China's journey towards achieving carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, a commitment first announced by President Xi Jinping at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly's general debate on September 22, 2020. The document outlines the nation's strategic decisions, guiding principles, policy frameworks, and concrete achievements over the past five years since this pivotal declaration.</p>
<h3>Setting Ambitious Goals for a Sustainable Future</h3>
<p>China's commitment to carbon peaking and neutrality is framed as a profound decision made from the perspective of responsibility towards human civilization and driven by the intrinsic requirements of sustainable development. This national strategy involves a comprehensive green and low-carbon transformation of economic and social development, charting a course that prioritises ecology and low-carbon emissions. Beyond the initial 2030/2060 targets, China has further solidified its climate action by announcing its 2030 national determined contributions (NDCs) at the Climate Ambition Summit on December 12, 2020, and subsequently, its 2035 NDC targets at the United Nations Climate Change Summit on September 24, 2025. These successive announcements underscore China's proactive stance and growing determination in global climate governance.</p>
<h3>Guiding Principles for a Systemic Transformation</h3>
<p>The white paper highlights that China has adhered to a set of core principles in its pursuit of carbon peak and neutrality, recognising the task as a multifaceted and systemic endeavour. These principles include: <strong>overall national coordination</strong>, ensuring that development and emission reduction efforts are integrated across different regions and sectors; <strong>conservation as a priority</strong>, emphasising efficiency and resourcefulness in all development stages; <strong>dual-wheel drive</strong>, balancing government guidance with market mechanisms; <strong>openness and connectivity</strong>, fostering both domestic and international collaboration; and <strong>risk prevention</strong>, proactively identifying and mitigating potential challenges in the transition process. This integrated approach aims to balance the relationship between development and emission reduction, the overall and the local, long-term goals and short-term actions, and the roles of government and the market.</p>
<h2>Building the World's Most Comprehensive Policy Framework</h2>
<p>To provide a robust policy guarantee for achieving its ambitious climate targets, China has constructed what the white paper describes as the "world's most systematic and complete carbon reduction policy system," referred to as the "1+N" policy framework. The "1" signifies the guiding ideology and top-level design, encapsulated in key documents such as the "Opinions on Comprehensively, Accurately, and Holistically Implementing the New Development Philosophy and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Work" and the "Action Plan for Carbon Peaking by 2030." These foundational documents provide a systematic plan and overall deployment for carbon peaking and neutrality efforts. The "N" component refers to a series of supporting policies and action plans targeting specific sectors and areas, including energy green and low-carbon transition, energy conservation and carbon reduction enhancement, industrial carbon peaking, and green and low-carbon transformation in urban and rural construction, among others. This comprehensive framework aims to provide a clear timeline, roadmap, and implementation blueprint for the nation's climate actions.</p>
<h3>Energising the Transition: Significant Strides in Renewable Energy</h3>
<p>The white paper details substantial achievements in the green and low-carbon transition of the energy sector, which is identified as the primary source of carbon emissions. China has prioritised the development of non-fossil energy sources, leading to a significant increase in their share of energy consumption. Between 2020 and 2024, the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption rose from 16.0% to 19.8%, an average annual increase of nearly one percentage point. This growth has been propelled by the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy development. As of the end of August 2025, installed capacity for wind and solar power had surpassed 1.69 billion kilowatts, more than tripling the figure from 2020. These renewable sources accounted for approximately 80% of new electricity capacity additions since 2020, with the power generation share of wind and solar steadily climbing at an average annual rate of 2.2 percentage points.</p>
<p>Concurrently, China has accelerated the clean and efficient utilisation of fossil fuels, while reasonably controlling their consumption. The share of fossil fuel consumption decreased from 84.0% in 2020 to 80.2% in 2024. This dual approach of rapidly expanding renewables and improving fossil fuel efficiency is crucial for supporting the "dual carbon" goals while ensuring energy security.</p>
<h4>Breakthroughs in Renewable Energy Infrastructure</h4>
<p>The report highlights the rapid expansion of China's renewable energy infrastructure. By the end of August 2025, the installed capacity of wind and solar power generation had exceeded 1.69 billion kilowatts, a more than threefold increase compared to 2020. This surge has made China a global leader in renewable energy deployment. The white paper also notes that wind and solar power generation now contribute significantly to the overall energy mix, with their share of electricity generation steadily increasing.</p>
<h3>Deepening Low-Carbon Development Across Key Sectors</h3>
<p>Recognising that industrial, transportation, construction, and residential sectors are major contributors to carbon emissions, China has intensified its efforts to promote low-carbon development in these areas. The white paper elaborates on progress made:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Industrial Sector:</strong> China has vigorously promoted synergistic innovation and integrated development between traditional and emerging industries, optimising industrial structure and advancing the development of green and low-carbon industries. This has led to a continuous improvement in the green and low-carbon level of its industrial sector.</li>
<li><strong>Transportation Sector:</strong> The nation has accelerated the promotion of new energy vehicles (NEVs), achieving the world's fastest and largest-scale adoption of NEVs. Furthermore, China's railway electrification level is world-leading, and its civil aviation airports are at the forefront globally in terms of on-site electrification. These advancements are contributing to the formation of a modern, integrated transportation system that is safe, efficient, green, and economical.</li>
<li><strong>Urban and Rural Construction:</strong> China has accelerated the transformation of urban and rural construction methods, enhancing green and low-carbon development levels and improving living quality in these areas.</li>
<li><strong>Residential Living:</strong> The white paper points to the deepening implementation of a nationwide green and low-carbon initiative, with a simple, moderate, green, low-carbon, civilized, and healthy lifestyle becoming a conscious choice for more people.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Implementing Key Decarbonisation Pathways</h3>
<p>The white paper details the successful implementation of several key pathways for carbon reduction, yielding tangible results:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Enhancement:</strong> This initiative focuses on reducing carbon emissions at the source. Over the first four years of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China's energy consumption per unit of GDP, after excluding energy used for raw materials and non-fossil energy consumption, decreased by 11.6%. In 2024 alone, a large-scale equipment renewal program saw over 20 million sets (units) of equipment updated in key sectors, resulting in an energy saving of approximately 25 million tonnes of standard coal.</li>
<li><strong>Circular Economy for Carbon Reduction:</strong> The circular economy plays a significant role in promoting carbon reduction by enhancing resource utilisation efficiency and reducing resource consumption and carbon emissions. By the end of 2024, China had established approximately 150,000 waste material recycling points and about 1,800 large sorting centres nationwide. In 2024, the comprehensive utilisation rate of seven major bulk solid wastes, including coal gangue, fly ash, and tailings, reached 59%, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to 2020.</li>
<li><strong>Carbon Sink Capacity Enhancement:</strong> This pathway focuses on increasing the capacity of ecosystems to absorb carbon dioxide. Over the past two decades, China has contributed approximately one-quarter of the world's new green space. By 2024, the forest coverage rate reached 25.09%, with forest stock volume at 20.988 billion cubic meters. The comprehensive vegetation coverage of grasslands stood at 50.52%. Currently, forest and grassland ecosystems sequester over 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, significantly bolstering the nation's carbon sink capabilities.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Injecting Momentum into Global Climate Governance</h2>
<p>The white paper emphasizes China's significant contribution to global climate governance and its active promotion of international cooperation. As a responsible major country, China has consistently upheld multilateralism and championed international cooperation, using its concepts and practices to lead a new paradigm in global climate governance.</p>
<h3>Deepening International Collaboration for a Greener World</h3>
<p>China has actively engaged in international partnerships to advance the global green transition. This includes deepening cooperation with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries in areas such as green infrastructure, green energy, and green transportation, making green development a distinct characteristic of high-quality BRI cooperation. To foster regional energy collaboration, China has established energy cooperation platforms with six major regions: ASEAN, the Arab League, the African Union, Central and Eastern European countries, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. It has also forged "Belt and Road" energy partnerships with 34 countries and engaged in green energy project cooperation with over 100 countries and regions.</p>
<p>China's role in supplying green energy equipment is substantial. Its wind power, photovoltaic (PV) products, and new energy vehicles are exported to over 200 countries and regions. Notably, China provides 70% of the world's wind power equipment and 80% of its PV module equipment. This contribution has helped drive down the global costs of wind power and PV electricity by over 60% and 80%, respectively. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's exports of wind and solar power products have cumulatively helped other countries reduce carbon emissions by approximately 4.1 billion tonnes.</p>
<p>Furthermore, China actively supports developing countries in enhancing their climate change response capabilities. Employing a "three-in-one" approach of green concepts, green technologies, and clean energy, China has provided and mobilised over 177 billion yuan (approximately $24.5 billion USD) in project funding since 2016. As of the end of October 2025, China had signed 55 climate change South-South cooperation Memoranda of Understanding with 43 developing countries, further solidifying its commitment to collaborative climate action.</p>
<h3>Historical Achievements in Green Transformation</h3>
<p>In the five years since its major declaration on carbon peaking and neutrality, China has made historic achievements in its green and low-carbon transition. The white paper enumerates these accomplishments:</p>
<ul>
<li>Construction of the world's most systematic and complete carbon reduction policy system.</li>
<li>Establishment of the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system.</li>
<li>Formation of the world's largest and most comprehensive new energy industry chain.</li>
<li>Realisation of the world's largest and fastest-growing promotion and application of new energy vehicles.</li>
<li>Contribution of approximately one-quarter of the world's newly added green space over the past two decades.</li>
<li>Becoming one of the countries with the fastest decline in energy intensity globally.</li>
</ul>
<p>These achievements demonstrate China's successful exploration of an effective path for green and low-carbon development for developing countries, making significant contributions to addressing global climate change and achieving sustainable development for humanity. The nation's commitment is deeply rooted in its philosophy that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," guiding its efforts to achieve a harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.</p>
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