China plans to tighten climate commitments in the run-up to COP29

China has accelerated its works on setting new nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, ahead of the 29th UN Climate Change Conference, as the country has achieved its 2030 targets of installing 1,200 GW of solar and wind generation capacities ahead of time, Li Chuangjun, the head of the renewable energy department of the National Energy Administration, said Aug. 29.

NDCs are climate targets committed by signatories under the Paris Agreement. Li said China’s total installed capacity for solar and wind power generation reached 1,206 GW as of end-July, of which 735 GW was solar photovoltaic and 471 GW wind power.

“To peak China’s carbon emissions, we also need non-fossil fuels to account for about 25% of our energy consumption, which still requires continuous efforts to build up solar and wind capacities and to ensure a high-quality development,” Li said.

Li shared the statistics at a press briefing on Aug. 29 for the launch of China’s Energy Transition White Book by the national cabinet, State Council, illustrating the country’s energy transition progress in the past decade.

According to the white book, as of 2023, 26.4% of China’s energy consumption was contributed by “clean energy,” which included natural gas, nuclear, hydropower, wind, solar and other non-fossil fuels.

Coal accounted for 55.3% of the energy consumption mix in 2023, down 12.1 percentage points compared with the level in 2013.

Soaring growth

The white book highlighted that from 2014 to 2023 the share of non-fossil fuels in global energy consumption mix increased from 13.6% to 18.5%. China alone has contributed 45.2% of the world’s total non-fossil energy consumption growth during the period.

In 2023, China’s solar and wind capacity additions accounted for 62% and 63% of the global solar and wind capacity additions, respectively.

China already has 20.4 million new energy vehicles on road, according to the white book.

To accommodate the rising number of electric vehicles, 8.596 million charging facilities had been established by 2023. Meanwhile, 450 hydrogen refueling stations have also been built to accommodate hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Turning capacities into supplies

As of 2023, China had installed 50.94 GW of pumped storage hydropower and 31.39 GW of utility-scale battery storage, the white book said, adding that 700 GW of the country’s thermal power generation units are capable of adjusting their loads with supply and demand fluctuations.

Li said China needs to continue expanding its energy storage capacities and improving the power system’s flexibility to cope with the intermittency of over 1,200 GW of renewables and effectively convert this large generation capacity into stable electricity supplies.

China has also implemented a power market reform, which is another key step to support renewable consumption. Increasing number of companies have participated in the power markets for spot, medium-term and long-term trades. Meanwhile, the government has adjusted its policies to enable electricity prices to better reflect the supply-demand balance and service costs, the white book said.

From 2016 to 2023, the number of companies and entities that traded electricity through power exchanges and market-based approaches increased from 42,000 to 743,000, according to the white book.

'Small yard, high walls'

The white book has been published at a time when China’s solar PV and wind products, batteries and EVs face rising tariffs, anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations, and tough carbon footprints requirements, initiated by the EU and US governments. Another key message delivered in the white book is the country’s strong stance against all “trade barriers.”

The white book describes the moves made by the EU and the US to reduce dependency on Chinese products as “small yard, high walls,” meaning setting high barriers for their markets so that only a small group of domestic and favored foreign suppliers can enter.

China cited International Energy Agency’s data that the average costs for each kilowatt-hour of wind and solar PV electricity have decreased by 60% and 80%, respectively. “China made a very significant contribution to this [sharp cost reduction],” the white book said.

The white book said China has helped over 100 countries to build solar, wind, hydro and nuclear projects in the past decade. In 2023 alone, solar and wind products exported from China helped the importing countries avoid around 810 million metric ton of CO2 emissions.

China called for all countries to give free rein of market force, stop using “energy security” as an excuse for trade protectionism, and recognize the cost competitiveness of made-in-China products as a blessing to relieve global inflation and expedite global renewable deployment, according to the white book.