China’s Renewable Energy Milestone and Coal Dependency: A Contradiction
China could meet its renewable energy expansion targets by 2024, six years ahead of schedule. Yet, new coal plants are being constructed at an unprecedented rate. How does this contradiction align?
Beijing. The Chinese government proudly highlights this achievement: no country in the world is expanding renewable energy faster than China. According to a recently released analysis by the state-run China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute (CREEI), new installations in the country are set to reach 260 gigawatts in 2024 alone. In comparison, Germany added only 9.3 gigawatts in the first half of this year.
The total capacity of solar and wind power in China could exceed 1300 gigawatts by the end of the year. This would be nine times Germany’s capacity and four and a half times that of the United States. Researchers indicate that this progress would allow China to achieve its 2030 renewable energy target six years ahead of schedule.
This rapid expansion is a significant reason why China’s emissions from electricity generation have been declining since March. Experts have been debating whether the country might have already reached its CO2 peak, seven years earlier than promised by President Xi Jinping.
