Experts: emissions peak possible by 2025

China has been rapidly building solar and wind power plants. Sometimes in the form of a national symbol, as here at Datong.

China is rapidly expanding its renewable energy sector. Should the provinces and the central government implement all planned projects, China will reach its expansion targets much earlier than expected. Carbon emissions could then already peak in 2025 – five years ahead of schedule. But provincial interests could become a problem.

Simultaneously the largest consumer of coal and the biggest investor in renewable energies – China’s energy policy is ambivalent. The People’s Republic consumes by far the most coal in the world. But China is also expanding renewable energies faster th an any other country. In 2020 and 2021 alone, China will have installed three times more solar and wind power plants than the USA or the EU.

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