What is "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality"?｜Understand China's Policies

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Published : 2025-07-03

Editor︰Ryu

Introduction

"Chinese path to modernisation", "new quality productive forces", "high-quality development"… You may have heard these terms frequently, but what exactly do they mean? Our "Understand China's Policies" series explores China's key national policies and ideas from multiple perspectives.

In recent years, whenever environmental issues arise, the term "Carbon Peaking and carbon neutrality" is frequently mentioned. But what exactly does it mean?

What specific targets need to be achieved? How will China implement measures to realize these "dual carbon" goals? This piece will guide you through these questions.

What is "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality"?

Since ancient times, human activities have always been the main source of carbon emissions, such as burning coal, oil, and natural gas as production power, etc.

During this process, carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases are released, posing serious impacts on the environment and exacerbating global warming.

To address climate change, countries worldwide have begun reducing greenhouse gas emissions through global agreements, including the 1994 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and the 2016 Paris Agreement

This agreements collectively establishing the fundamental framework for global climate governance.

National Policy Awareness - Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality — The 2016 Paris Agreement commits nations to limit global warming below 2°C through a worldwide green transition. (Image Source: Shutterstock)

In September 2020, China officially announced at the 75th United Nations General Assembly to strive to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

So, what exactly are "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality"?

The official definition given is: The so-called carbon peaking refers to "the process in which the carbon emission amount stops growing after reaching its peak and then gradually declines."

And carbon neutrality refers to "achieving a balance between the carbon emitted and the carbon absorbed within a specific timeframe."

In other words, within a certain period (generally one year), the total amount of carbon emissions from human activities, both direct and indirect, is offset by actions such as afforestation, vegetation restoration, and industrial carbon sequestration, achieving the ultimate goal of "net zero emissions."

In summary, achieving carbon neutrality involves two key steps: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the absorption of greenhouse gases.

How can the "dual carbon goal" be achieved?

Achieving carbon peaking is a prerequisite for carbon neutrality. One must first reach the Carbon Peaking before achieving carbon neutrality.

So, how can the carbon peaking be achieved?

In October 2021, China's State Council released the Action Plan for Carbon Dioxide Peaking Before 2030 (hereinafter referred to as the Plan).

Focusing on the two critical decades of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for achieving carbon peak, the Plan outlines primary objectives including: increasing the share of non-fossil energy consumption, improving energy utilization efficiency, and reducing carbon dioxide emission levels.

To achieve these objectives, the Plan proposes implementing "10 Major Peaking Carbon Dioxide Emissions Actions" as the core initiative.

This will integrate carbon peaking across all aspects of socio-economic development, while advancing international cooperation and strengthening policy safeguards through corresponding deployments.

Non-renewable traditional energy has always been regarded as the main source of carbon emissions, so accelerating the green and low-carbon transition is an important step.

Data shows that in 2023, the installed capacity of non-fossil energy power generation in China reached 50.9%, surpassing the installed capacity of fossil energy power generation for the first time.

Subsequently, the installed capacity of non-fossil energy power generation in China continued to grow, and reached 1.62 billion kilowatts by the end of February 2024, accounting for 54.6% of the national power generation installed capacity, continuously surpassing fossil energy and setting a new record.

Kela Photovoltaic Power Station — China's Kela hydro-solar facility at record altitude prevents 1.6M tonnes of CO₂ emissions yearly by replacing 600k tonnes of coal. (Image Source: VCG)

Meanwhile, the green and low-carbon transition in transportation is also advancing.

In 2023, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China both exceeded 9.4 million, ranking first in the world for nine consecutive years. Currently, a series of green and low-carbon production and lifestyle practices are continuously being implemented.

To achieve carbon neutrality, in addition to reducing carbon, it is also necessary to protect and restore ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, and wetlands to increase the absorption of greenhouse gases——in other words, carbon sequestration.

Among these, the role of forests in carbon sequestration is particularly significant.

Great Khingan Forest — Inner Mongolia holds China's largest forest expanse at 273 million mu, covering 12% of the nation's total. The picture shows the Greater Khingan Range forest. (Image Source: VCG)

As of March 2024, the national forest coverage rate increased from 21.63% ten years ago to 24.02%, and the forest stock volume increased from 15.137 billion cubic meters to 19.493 billion cubic meters.

According to statistics, over the past 20 years, through the continuous promotion of large-scale land greening, China has contributed about 1/4 of the world's new green area, becoming the fastest-growing country in terms of forest resources, providing strong support for achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.