By NG HAN GUAN and KEN MORITSUGU
China’s Talatan (AP) Last month, Chinese government officials displayed what they claim will be the largest solar farm in the world when it is finished. The farm is 235 square miles in area, which is equivalent to the size of the American metropolis of Chicago, and is located high on the Tibetan plateau.
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The investment is beginning to pay off as China has been installing solar panels at a scorching rate—far faster than anywhere else in the globe. According to a research published on Thursday, the nation’s carbon emissions continued a trend that started in March 2024, declining by 1% in the first half of the year when compared to the same period last year.
The good news is that it’s possible that China’s carbon emissions peaked much earlier than the government’s 2030 objective. However, in order to contribute to slowing down global climate change, China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will need to drastically reduce them.
According to Lauri Myllyvirta, the study’s Finnish author and chief analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, China would need to reduce emissions by an average of 3% over the following 35 years in order to meet its stated aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2060.
He stated that China must reach that 3% mark as quickly as feasible.
Emissions from China have previously decreased during economic downturns. What’s different this time is that, according to Myllyvirta, who examines the most recent data in a study published on the U.K.-based Carbon Brief website, the increase in power from solar, wind, and nuclear has easily outpaced the 3.7% increase in electricity demand in the first half of this year.
“We’re discussing a structural downward trend in China’s emissions for the first time,” he remarked.
According to the report, China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first half of 2024, surpassing America’s total capacity of 178 gigawatts at the end of 2024. In China, solar electricity has surpassed hydropower and is on track to overtake wind as the nation’s greatest clean energy source this year. Between January and June, an additional 51 gigawatts of wind power was installed.
The plateauing of China’s carbon emissions was characterized as a watershed in the fight against climate change by Li Shuo, head of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington.
He responded via email, saying, “This is a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape.” According to him, it also demonstrates that a nation may reduce emissions without sacrificing economic growth.
However, Li warned that China’s excessive reliance on coal still poses a significant risk to climate progress and that the country’s economy must transition to fewer resource-intensive industries. “We still have a long way to go,” he remarked.
On the Tibetan plateau, a seemingly unending stretch of solar panels extends toward the horizon. Above them, white two-story buildings rise at regular intervals.The scrubby vegetation underneath them is grazed by sheep.
Nearly two-thirds of the land is covered with solar panels. When finished, it will contain about 7 million panels and be able to supply 5 million households with electricity.
It was constructed in the comparatively unpopulated west, just like many of China’s wind and solar farms. Bringing energy to China’s eastern industry and population centers is a significant problem.
During a government-sponsored trip, Zhang Jinming, the deputy governor of Qinghai province, warned reporters that the distribution of green energy resources is completely out of step with our nation’s current industrial distribution.
The construction of transmission lines across the nation is one aspect of the answer. One links the province of Henan with Qinghai. There are two more planned, one of which will go to Guangdong province in the southeast, which is practically on the other side of the nation.
The more rigid management of China’s electrical system, which is geared toward the consistent production of coal plants rather than the more unpredictable and fluctuating wind and solar, prevents the country from fully utilizing the power, according to Myllyvirta.
According to him, this is a problem that policymakers have acknowledged and are attempting to address, but it does need for significant adjustments to the way the transmission network and coal-fired power plants function. Thus, it’s not a simple task.
From Beijing, Moritsugu provided a report. Wayne Zhang, video producer for the Associated Press, contributed.
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