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China outlines plans to accelerate offshore wind and green trade measures to reach climate goals
19/3/2025
News
China has unveiled a package of energy and trade initiatives aimed at accelerating its transition to a low-carbon economy as it strives to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The measures include major offshore wind expansion, large-scale renewable energy projects in desert regions, and new frameworks to address international green trade barriers.
The initiatives were announced by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and detailed in the Government Work Report at the 14th National People’s Congress earlier this month.
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The NDRC report emphasises that the country is planning to ‘actively and prudently work towards peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality’. This will include advancing a second series of trials for peaking carbon emissions and establishing zero-carbon industrial parks and factories. The report also notes that China plans to ‘speed up the establishment of a framework for controlling the total amount and intensity of carbon emissions and expand the coverage of the China Carbon Emission Trade Exchange to more sectors’.
Plans outlined in the report include an expansion of China’s offshore wind sector, a key pillar of the country’s decarbonisation strategy. The new wind projects will strengthen grid integration and transmission capabilities, helping to stabilise power supplies.
In addition, ‘new energy bases’ are to be constructed in ‘desert areas, the Gobi, and other arid areas’, integrating solar and wind power with advanced transmission infrastructure.
Also, Reuters reports that among other proposed projects is a hydropower development on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet. The project is controversial, with concerns raised in India regarding its potential impact on downstream water flows.
Reuters also reports there are plans to develop a direct power transmission route connecting Tibet with Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong in the south-east.
Continued coal development
Despite its renewable energy and carbon targets, China remains heavily reliant on coal. The NDRC report confirms that coal production and supply will continue to increase in the short term, even as the government promotes trials of low-carbon technologies in coal-fired power plants.
China has struggled to balance economic growth with emissions reductions. According to Reuters, the country’s carbon intensity – the amount of emissions per unit of GDP – fell by only 3.4% in 2023. It says the NDRC blamed surging energy demand and extreme weather events for emissions reductions falling ‘short of expections’. As a result, China may miss its five-year goal to reduce carbon intensity by 18% by the end of 2025.
Green trade barriers and carbon trading
Beyond domestic energy policies, China is also ramping up efforts to address growing international green trade barriers. As countries around the world impose stricter environmental standards on imports, China plans to implement carbon footprint management systems, carbon labelling and certification programmes to align its exports with global sustainability requirements, according to the NRDC report.
