China could reach 2030-renewable energy target faster than expected
Key results from the upcoming China Renewable Energy Outlook 2020 show the importance of a fast development of wind and solar power to achieve China’s targets of the Paris Agreement. In 2020, China added a record of 120 gigawatt wind and photovoltaic solar energy. A development that shows it is realistic to reach the 1,200 GW target even before the estimated target in 2030.
Today, the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) together with the Danish Energy Agency and other international partners presented the main results of the China Renewable Energy Outlook 2020 (CREO 2020). The event was hosted by the Danish embassy in Beijing and co-organized by several other parties including the International Energy Agency (IEA), which launched its IEA Renewable Energy Market Report.
CREO 2020 outlines a detailed path for China to achieve the Paris Agreement targets and thereby support the ambitious Chinese climate goal of carbon neutrality in 2060. One of these targets is the continuation of fast integration of solar and wind power, going forward towards the 2030 target of 1,200 gigawatt integrated renewable energy. The National Energy Administration recently announced that China added a record of 120 gigawatt wind and photovoltaic solar energy in 2020. Combined with the CREO 2020 analysis, the 2020 deployment shows that it is realistic to reach the 1,200 GW target even before 2030.
A continuation of the deployment of wind and solar PV at the 2020 level will also be necessary to peak the CO2 emission before 2030 and ensure a cost efficient path towards carbon neutrality in 2060.
The outlook shows that China is in a position where it can create the foundation for its energy revolution. A decoupling of economic growth from energy consumption is a precondition for China to become CO2-neutral in 2060 while maintaining a sustainable economic growth. Denmark has over the past decades shown that this can be done through a massive increase in energy efficiency and a shift from fossil dependency to local renewable energy generation.
Valued input for Chinese national energy policy
The CREO is the flagship of the Sino-Danish cooperation on energy transition and serves as highly valued input for Chinese national energy policy taking the temperature on China’s green energy transformation. Its main purpose is to provide a long-term scenario view of the future Chinese energy system, and develop policy recommendations for cost-effective initiatives that could be implemented to reach the below 2-degree target in the Paris Agreement.
From 2021, the CREO will be become a broader China Energy Outlook, which will include analyses of the entire Chinese energy sector. The new outlook will also focus on the provincial development towards a green and carbon neutral energy system including a shift from a coal to renewables.
Denmark and China have cooperated closely in the field of climate and energy since 2005. The energy partnership focuses on issues such as the integration of renewable energy and increased flexibility in the power system, allowing China to better utilize its renewable power capacity.
The CREO 2020 Executive summary will be available for download in February 2021.
About the Sino-Danish energy cooperation
●The Danish Energy Agency cooperates with the National Energy Administration (NEA), Energy Research Institute of NDRC (ERI), and China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute (CREEI). The new 5-year Sino-Danish energy program 2020-25 also includes a new partnership cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).
●The Danish-Chinese Energy Partnership Programme, which is in its third phase running from 2020-2025, is financed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Danish Climate Envelope.
●Close Danish partners include the Danish embassy in Beijing as well as the Danish TSO operator, Energinet
●China and Denmark have tailored Strategic Sector Cooperation programmes, the Sino-Danish Clean Heating Program and Quality Offshore Wind Program.
●Denmark has 16 government-to-government collaborations on energy with countries that collectively emit more than 60 percent of the world’s CO2. By sharing and expanding knowledge and capacity in the partner countries’ national authorities, policy makers are empowered to make sustainable and cost-effective energy policy decisions that support global sustainable transition.
For more information, please contact Birgitte Torntoft at brto@ens.dk