State Council unveils carbon peak pathway

The State Council, China's Cabinet, has issued an action plan for peaking the country's carbon emissions during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), setting 2030 targets that include cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 17 percent from 2025 levels and raising the share of nonfossil fuels in total energy consumption by 3.3 percentage points to 25 percent.

The document also devotes a stand-alone section to advancing the green and low-carbon transition of computing power infrastructure, as China seeks to reconcile the rapid expansion of its digital economy with its long-term climate goals.

China aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Published on Thursday, the plan lays out a comprehensive road map for the country's critical five-year push to reach its carbon peak.

Under the framework, the State Council has called for a sweeping restructuring of the energy mix by expanding the use of nonfossil energy sources, including wind, solar, hydropower and nuclear power.

The plan specifies that by 2030, installed capacity for wind and solar power should reach at least 2.8 billion kilowatts, while conventional hydropower capacity should reach around 410 million kW and nuclear power capacity approximately 110 million kW.

As of the end of last year, China's installed wind and solar power capacity stood at 1.84 billion kW. Conventional hydropower and operational nuclear power capacity reached 380 million kW and 62.5 million kW, respectively.

The document also pledges to strengthen the power grid's ability to integrate and utilize renewable energy, saying China will gradually introduce minimum renewable energy consumption requirements for key energy-intensive industries.

A dedicated section of the action plan focuses on advancing the green and low-carbon transformation of computing power infrastructure.

"China will enhance the coordinated spatial planning of computing power facilities and renewable energy resources, encourage direct procurement of green electricity, and appropriately deploy supporting infrastructure such as energy storage and backup power, so that newly built computing facilities will primarily operate on nonfossil energy," the plan says.

China will also tighten energy-saving and carbon reduction standards for computing power infrastructure, promote low-carbon retrofits of facilities that fail to meet the standards and systematically phase out outdated and inefficient technologies and equipment, according to the action plan.

The document also outlines measures to deepen the green and low-carbon transition in key sectors, with buildings and transportation identified as priority areas.

China will strengthen energy-saving and carbon-reduction retrofits of existing buildings while improving the management of energy consumption and carbon emissions during building operations, it says.

All newly constructed urban buildings will be required to fully comply with green building standards. The country will also promote green and low-carbon construction methods and support the large-scale development of ultra-low-energy buildings and prefabricated construction.

By 2030, China aims to reduce direct carbon emissions per unit of floor area by 3 percent.

In the transportation sector, China will further promote low-carbon energy use by steadily expanding the fleet of new energy vehicles, accelerating the electrification of public service vehicles, actively promoting new energy alternatives for commercial vehicles and nonroad mobile machinery, and phasing out older, high-emission vehicles.

By 2030, new energy vehicles are expected to account for 30 percent of the national vehicle fleet, while new energy commercial vehicles will make up 25 percent of all commercial vehicles in operation, according to the action plan.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn