China’s Meek Climate Targets Offer Little Support to Clean Tech
Solar panels and wind turbines near Yumen, Gansu province, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergChina’s struggling clean-tech giants will be reliant on market forces — not policy mandates — for growth over the next decade after President Xi Jinping announced targets for renewables and electric vehicles that the country should comfortably achieve.
By 2035, China will aim to have 3,600 gigawatts of wind and solar power installed, and to make EVs the mainstream option for car sales, Xi said in a video speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. Those are in addition to the headline goal of cutting emissions by 7% to 10% by then, a target seen as underwhelming by most climate scientists.