China’s Curbs on Property and Covid Have Cut Emissions - For Now

  • Climate analyst says emissions post longest drop in a decade
  • Rebound will be keyed to scale of infrastructure spending

Vehicles travel along a near-empty highway during a lockdown on May 24. 

Source: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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China’s carbon emissions have posted their longest sustained drop in a decade due to Beijing’s efforts to rein in the property market, boost clean energy and control the spread of the virus.

Carbon output dropped 1.4% in the first three months of 2022, marking three consecutive quarters of falling emissions that began last summer when the government tightened its policies on the real estate sector, according to a blog post for Carbon Brief by Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.