China issues three-year action plan to accelerate energy sector carbon reduction

BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China's National Energy Administration on Friday released a three-year action plan for energy conservation and carbon reduction in the energy sector, outlining clear targets and concrete measures to advance low-carbon transformation across the industry.

The plan sets key goals to be achieved by 2028. The share of non-fossil energy consumption will increase by approximately 1 percentage point annually. The proportion of coal-fired power capacity meeting current energy efficiency benchmarks is set to rise by 15 percentage points through controlling coal consumption in power supply, the plan said.

A number of zero-carbon and low-carbon coal and oil mining areas will be built, while zero-carbon industrial parks will be supported. Significant progress will be made in energy conservation and carbon reduction in key sectors, with steady improvement in green energy consumption.

The three-year action plan focuses on the entire energy chain, including production, supply, storage and marketing, and intensifies efforts to cut energy use and emissions in the coal, oil and gas industries and in coal-fired power generation.

Boosting the substitution of fossil fuels with non-fossil energy is highlighted as a critical pathway to reducing carbon emissions on the consumption side. The plan outlines targeted development directions and supportive policies for major energy-consuming fields such as transportation and construction.

In the transportation sector, the plan accelerates the clean transition of energy use. A specific measure is to upgrade high-power charging facilities first at stations with utilization rates exceeding 40 percent during major holidays, thereby improving the efficiency and convenience of green transportation energy supply.

The plan also promotes coordinated development between emerging industries like computing power and green electricity.

China has set the dual carbon goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.