Master Programme in Energy Systems 2023/2024

Energy Systems

China´s carbon neutrality transition

Abstract
As fossil fuel energy consumption is responsible for more than 90% of China's greenhouse gas
emissions [], policies focused on energy transition are essential for China to achieve its carbon
neutrality goal. By analysing scientific articles and material from the subject, this article
introduces the social motivations for the transition to carbon neutrality, an analysis of China´s
carbon policies and the opportunities for carbon capture, utilization and storage.

Introduction
China’s energy supply is principally dependant on coal, contributing to the dramatic increase in
carbon emissions. As it can be observed in the following Illustration 1, the carbon dioxide
emissions from coal in 2019 was 5,5 times that from oil and 13,6 times that from natural gas.
At the same time, the capacity of the coal power plants reached 1,04 billion kW, half of the
global capacity. As result of the existing high dependence on fossil fuels, mainly coal, the
emission shares of industrial sectors and domestic power are over the global average levels.

Illustration 1.Share electricity production by source, China,2019 [ ]

It is relevant to comment that since it is a large country, the diverse geographical areas present
significant differences, in terms of the total amount, sectoral source, and changing trends
talking about carbon emissions. The presented Illustration 1 can give a general overview of the
country from the exterior, however this doesn´t adjust to the internal reality of the regions.

An example of this phenomenon is the comparison between the east coast of China and the
western regions, the first one has already reached the peak of fossil energy consume while the
latter’s carbon emissions are mostly caused by the industries. High emissions in the western
provinces of China are strongly related to the lower economic development, as result of which
the technological available infrastructure is backward.

Having said that, it seems clear that in order to keep progressing towards China´s carbon-
neutrality transition, the different development characteristics of all the regions and location
advantages need to be combined, the development system of energy-intensive growth has to
change and the use of clean energy has to be progressively introduced.

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Method
The presented information has been collected from diverse scientific articles and researches to
analyse the energy transition in China

Results
This transition from the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases to a state of carbon
neutrality represents a monumental shift in China's environmental policy. It marks a departure
from the country's historic reliance on coal and heavy industry, and a pivot towards a more
sustainable future.

Sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” []. According
to this concept, in recent years several investigations have been conducted in order to relate
the rate of mortality and illnesses in the country with the existence of high number of
pollutants in the air. For instance, the Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that in 2019,
air pollution was responsible for 1,85 million deaths in China, among which 1,42 million were
attributable to particulate matter (PM). [] These results point air contaminants as the main
public health problem of the society.

In accordance with the presented values, the Chinese government has presented the new
World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines in 2021, as result of the urgent need of
revision of air quality standards (AQS). []

In addition, the government has been implementing policies for many years to achieve the
agreed objectives, not only within the country but also internationally. Among them, the lately
published documents: “Working guidance for carbon dioxide peaking and carbon neutrality in
full and faithful implementations of the new development philosophy” and “The action plan
for carbon dioxide peaking before 2030”. []

The first document sets out the basic principles and key objectives of future climate practice
and will act as a reference for work on the low-carbon transition. The other document focuses
on the efforts in achieving high-quality carbon peaking. For that purpose, the paper takes
advantage of different policy instruments []:

 Economic policy instruments, such as, the development of incentives and constraint
mechanisms. This instrument´s aim resides in controlling the behaviour of individuals
in the right direction by giving price signals.
 Administrative policy instruments, like in this case, an institutional reform in energy
and other relevant fields. This measure directly regulates the direction of the energy
sector.
 Research and development instruments, these consist in the adoption of innovation in
green and low-carbon science and technology.

SE PODRÍA METER LA COLABORACIÓN CON ARGENTINA AQUÍ SI ES NECESARIO

As shown in the first Figure 1, coal is the main pillar of China's energy structure but also the
principal CO2 emitter, for that reason a proper management of coal consumption is essential
for the country without setting aside the reliance of its energy supply and reduce the pollutant
emissions.

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Energy Systems

In respond to the need of neutral carbon transition, it can be achieved by reducing CO2
emissions directly by decreasing the consumption of traditional fossil fuels and compensating
them with negative emissions produced by bioenergy, combined with carbon capture, usage,
and storage (CCUS).

The application opportunities of these mentioned technologies will be analysed. First of all, it is
essential to acknowledge that the carbon neutrality goal is not achievable only by the
application of capture techniques over the carbon emissions from polluting industries, such as,
steel, cement and chemical; it has to go hand in hand with the reduction of large-scale
chemical energy.

The CCUS concept refers to the capture of CO2 in the point of emission before it enters to the
atmosphere, afterwards it is transported to the storage and finally the storage, also named
sequestration,. The most economical way to transport and store CO2 is in a highly compressed,
high-density state. Among the ways studied for storing compressed CO2 are injection into
underground geological formations or injection into the sub-seabed. The most extended CO2
storage are saline formations, the availability of the formations in the world supposes the
principal storage potential. What it is more, the CO2 produced in all existing fossil resources
could be kept underground just using the capacity of the saline recesses. []

Nevertheless, even the presented methods are believed to be an effective measure to reduce
the pollution of the air in China, there is still more development needed to assess the long-
term impact of the carbon storage in the nature and biodiversity. Working into that energy
evolution, the government of China has promoted CCS technology by presenting almost 50
projects based in carbon capture capability, by using those it would be able to reduce in 3
million tons/year the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere. [] The achieved values will increase in
the future thanks to the appliance of the projects in large-scale capture capability and
combination of technologies.

Discussion
The presented levels of carbon emissions in China are the result of an extremely fast
industrialization process and eventhough many policy instruments have been implemented,
the energy structure and the economy are still dominated by high-carbon energy.
Nevertheless, there are many steps forward to achieve the carbon neutrality transition.

Alternatively, not everything is lost, as it can be appreciated in the published data. Before 2020
China had increased the consume of non-fossil fuel a 15,3% and decreased the carbon
production by 47,9% from the data of 2005. Compared to the reduction rate of other countries
(the US 12% , Japan 21% , and European Union 35% ) it shows the efforts of China to achieve
lower pollution levels.[]

Focus on the aim of carbon neutral transition the government has increased the objectives of
pollution for the future, the previously mentioned rate of carbon intensity respect 2005 has
been to 65% by 2030.

Unlikely, not all the commitments have been respected.An example of that was in September
2021, when President Xi announced at the United Nations General Assembly that China
wouldn´t build more coal-fire projects. This compromise was kept for a less than a year, when
in 2022 the construction and the announcements of more coal power plants where permitted.
The level of coal industry has been maintained since 2022 to the actuality, this tendency has
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been justified as a supporting energy capacity to unsure a satisfactory integration of the

renewable energy in the electric grid.

Conclusions

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Energy Systems

References