By Abbas Nazil
China has unveiled a cautious new climate target for the decade, pledging to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 17 percent by 2030 as the country balances environmental commitments with economic growth.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang disclosed this during the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, where policymakers outlined strategies aimed at sustaining economic expansion while advancing the nation’s green transition.
The new goal focuses on cutting carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 17 percent by 2030.
This compares with an earlier target to reduce emissions intensity by 18 percent between 2021 and 2025, a target that official reports suggest China narrowly failed to meet.
According to Li, the government will continue to pursue climate goals carefully while ensuring economic stability.
He stated that China would “actively yet prudently” work toward reaching peak carbon emissions before 2030 and ultimately achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
The government also confirmed plans to introduce a broader system that controls the total amount of carbon emissions in addition to the existing focus on emissions intensity.
China’s climate plans were presented alongside economic policies designed to maintain national growth at between 4.5 percent and 5 percent annually.
Authorities also announced measures to stimulate consumer spending and strengthen the country’s capabilities in advanced technologies, which leaders believe can coexist with efforts to reduce emissions and support sustainable development.
Officials said the country had already demonstrated its climate commitment by submitting long-term objectives to the United Nations outlining environmental targets through 2035.
However, some critics argue that the country’s plan to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by between 7 percent and 10 percent over that period may be too modest and easily achievable.
China remains the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for about 29 percent of global emissions in 2024.
This is significantly higher than the contribution of the United States, the world’s second-largest emitter, which produced roughly 11 percent of global emissions during the same period.
Analysts say the next five years will be critical in determining whether China can meet its pledge to peak emissions before 2030 and stay on course for its long-term climate neutrality target.
Recent developments indicate some progress.
Researchers from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimated that China’s carbon emissions likely declined by about 0.3 percent in 2025, marking the first drop since pandemic-era restrictions.
The decline has been partly attributed to rapid growth in renewable energy, which is increasingly meeting rising electricity demand without requiring additional coal-fired power generation.
The surge in electric vehicle adoption has also reduced demand for fossil fuels in the transport sector.
Despite these improvements, China continues to approve and build new coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities with high carbon output, raising questions about the speed of its transition toward a low-carbon economy.
Officials also acknowledged that the new emissions intensity calculations may differ from earlier methods because they now include both energy-related emissions and pollution from industrial processes.
Experts say this revised methodology could allow China to record additional reductions due to declining industrial production, particularly in the cement sector, which has slowed amid the country’s ongoing property market downturn.
