China, the country that – almost all ecologists agree – needs to act, if the world is to have any chance of slowing global warming. China announced its Five-Year Plan at the opening of the National People’s Congress. People anxious for a great transition to clean renewable power will be gravely disappointed – China will invest more in coal to power its economy over the next five years, as its five-year plan only modestly increases renewable ambitions. Last year, there were signs of potential change. Non-coal power plants accounted for half of China’s total capacity for the first time. Few details and signaled little urgency in cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The lack of a cap on total energy consumption was one of the notable exclusions.
The plan aims to reduce the amount of carbon emitted per unit of GDP by 18%. Indeed, this is the same target as for the previous five years, and economic growth was set for 6% in 2021 – meaning a net increase in carbon emissions for this year. The blueprint sets a target of generating just 20% of energy from non-fossil fuels by 2025, up from 15.9% in 2020. There were no specific targets for increasing wind, solar or hydro capacity, although there have been pledges to invest more in renewables. China is the world’s biggest polluter, spewing out over a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. As part of the plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, Beijing had previously pledged to reach peak carbon emissions before 2030. Researchers say this will require coal-fired power to be cut almost immediately. The economic blueprint does not ban the development of new coal power stations. Instead, China’s cabinet last month issued a directive to “increase the share of large capacity coal power units.