The Carbon Brief Profile: China
As part of a series on how key emitters are responding to climate change, Carbon Brief looks at China, which leads the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and coal use – but also on the deployment and manufacture of low-carbon technologies.
China, formally known as the People’s Republic of China, is the world’s second-largest economy and the second most populous country.
The country is home to half of the world’s coal power plants and has the world’s largest capacity of renewables and hydroelectricity, as well as the second-largest for nuclear.
It is also the world’s fifth-largest oil-producer and the second-largest for oil consumption, as well as the single largest contributor to global growth in demand for gas.
In 2006, China overtook the US to become the world’s largest annual emitter of greenhouse gases and its citizens now have carbon footprints well above the global average. However, its cumulative and per-capita emissions remain about half of the US’s today.
Climate change is a priority for the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government. In 2020, China’s leader Xi Jinping pledged to “peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030” and “achieve carbon neutrality before 2060”.
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