Climate Politics
China’s Slippage on Energy Targets Puts Climate Goals at Risk
- Too much reliance on industrial sectors like petrochemicals
- Economic growth has also come at the expense of profitability
Energy and emissions intensity targets are among the most prominent signals Beijing sends to reinforce its longer term objectives of peaking emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2060.
Photographer: Na Bian/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
For nearly two decades, China has graded the economy by monitoring the amount of energy it consumes to deliver growth. That is set to end this year — far short of official targets.
Power demand has been increasing at a hefty pace thanks to expanding manufacturing of everything from metals and petrochemicals to solar panels and electric vehicles, plus other growing contributors, like air conditioning and data centers — even as construction and other traditional industries slow.