China goes full throttle on green energy transition to achieve carbon neutrality

Nevertheless, China's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 is not an easy battle.

Gao Jinshan, vice president of Goldwind, a leading renewable energy company located in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, assessed the existing gap between China's current energy structure and its promise of carbon neutrality at the forum.

By the end of last year, the country's overall installed capacity of wind power and photovoltaic power generation came in at 280 million kilowatts and about 260 million kilowatts, respectively. However, to achieve the goal of reaching carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and realizing carbon neutrality before 2060, an capacity to generate around 1.2 billion kilowatts of electricity from wind and photovoltaic energy is needed.

Since the total installed capacity of the two energy sectors is expected to reach 540 million kilowatts by the end of 2021, there still lies a gulf of about 700 million kilowatts to fill in, said Gao.

To bridge the gap, China has stepped up its green transition and made comprehensive plans.

Guizhou plans to slash 40.55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2025 and reduce a whopping 71.56 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2030 through the use of new energy.

Moreover, the province's overall output of shale gas and coal bed gas is expected to surpass 100 million cubic meters in 2021, while 10 more garbage power plants will be built this year.

Guanling Buyi and Miao autonomous county in Guizhou, known for its soil erosion and desertification, had faced numerous challenges on the road to prosperity, but now it has found golden opportunities in the recent renewable energy boom.

"We will have wind farms on the mountains, photovoltaic power plants halfway up the mountain top, and hydropower stations down the mountains in the future, all for the sake of reaching carbon emission peak and neutrality," said Wei Chaohu, Party secretary of the county.

Currently, the county has an installed power generation capacity of over 4 million kilowatts from renewable resources, and the figure is expected to rise to 5.3 million kilowatts by the end of 2025.

"The photovoltaic power plants need human labor, which are expected to create thousands of job opportunities for local residents and 3 billion yuan of output value when the projects are fully implemented," Wei said.

A report published in July by Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University, notes that the green reform of the energy industry and its transition to renewable energy plays an important role for realizing China's ambitious goal of carbon neutrality.

In the future, China plans to promote the eco-friendly transformation of thermal power enterprises with long-term heavy pollution and further explore renewable energy alternatives in the construction of new infrastructure.

"With its low-carbon commitment to the world, China buckles down to develop new energy resources to replace conventional fossil fuels, which greatly demonstrates its responsible stance as a major country and its firm determination to build a community with a shared future for humanity," said Lei Yizhu.