Experts confident on energy transition

Experts are more optimistic about China’s potential in reducing carbon emissions as the country works to improve an economy that was hampered by the pandemic, the report says. About 21 per cent of the experts surveyed this year said they believe China’s carbon dioxide emissions will peak before 2025, compared with 15 per cent in the survey last year. China aims to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and realise carbon neutrality before 2060. Most of the experts surveyed this year said they believe China is on track to reach peak emissions on time, but limiting emissions increases before the peak remains a significant challenge, the report says. More than half of the experts were confident that China would reach its consumption peak in primary energy — natural, unconverted energy forms such as coal, natural gas and hydropower — before 2030. “Achieving carbon neutrality in a fast-growing economy like that of China is not an easy task,” said Yang Muyi of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies. To realise carbon neutrality China needs not only to rebuild its national economy and focus on boosting technologies for developing clean energy and enhancing energy efficiency, but also forge ahead with the transition in the fossil fuel sector in a cautious way, he said. He stressed that China has to strike a balance between promoting rapid decarbonisation and dealing with a host of issues of public concern, including energy access and reliable supply.