Experts say China’s efforts to promote high-quality economic development and foster new, high-quality productive forces can further accelerate the country’s green transformation.

Their comments came after the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which ended in July. The plenary resolution described high-quality development as a “fundamental task” in building China into a modern socialist country in every respect and identified fostering new, high-quality productive forces as one of the key guidelines in achieving the goal.

Some of the specific measures in the resolution include continuing the sound and orderly development of new energy sectors; encouraging businesses to use digital, smart and green technologies to transform traditional industries; and imposing stricter institutional constraints to protect the environment.

Following the conclusion of the plenum, China also rolled out a series of measures to accelerate the green transformation, including the creation of a dual control system that now prioritizes reducing carbon dioxide emissions rather than previously focusing on energy intensity and total energy consumption.

Muyi Yang, senior China energy policy analyst at Ember, a British energy think tank, praised the trajectory, saying it was “sustainable.”

“Focusing on high-quality development, China aims to build an economy that is not only larger but also more sophisticated, efficient and adaptive to future challenges, including climate change. This philosophy emphasizes the need to upgrade industries, foster technological innovation and increase productivity while minimizing environmental impacts, thus ensuring long-term prosperity and social well-being,” he said.

Belinda Schaepe, a China policy analyst at the Energy and Clean Air Research Center based in Helsinki, Finland, noted that China’s relentless pursuit of a new development path has already led to a clean-tech boom.

“Clean energy was already a key driver of China’s economic growth in 2023, contributing 40 percent to GDP growth,” she said, citing a research paper published by the center in January this year. “The Chinese government’s increased focus on supporting new, high-quality manufacturing forces, including green technologies, is likely to further boost production in this sector.”

She added that the growing number of affordable, clean products in China can also help the global energy transition and supply chains that need to be expanded around the world.

“China’s investment and production of green technologies have been key factors in driving down international prices, accelerating their use around the world,” Schaepe said. “Chinese companies are already opening new production facilities in other countries. They can help diversify supply chains and offer technology transfers, especially in the Global South.”

Maintained focus

Meanwhile, both experts noted that China’s continued focus on green transformation has made some traditional energy-intensive industries cleaner.

Yang found that Chinese state-owned enterprises, both central and local, operating in the energy sector, despite owning most of the country’s coal assets, have been actively diversifying their business into renewable energy, which has made a significant contribution to controlling emissions by limiting the growth of coal use.

In the steel sector, no new permits for the construction of coal-fired steelworks were issued in the first half of 2024, indicating a shift to cleaner production methods such as electric arc furnaces, Schaepe said.

“Record growth in renewable energy capacity, combined with a saturated real estate sector and emission reductions from heavy industry, indicate that China could already reach peak carbon dioxide emissions in 2023,” she said.

Still, she acknowledged that China’s path to carbon neutrality could still be “long and winding.”

Schaepe called for ambitious, phased carbon reduction targets leading from peak to carbon neutrality, a more transparent coal phase-out plan, and greater support for grid flexibility and energy market reform to integrate renewables.

Yang expressed hope that policy support for clean industries will remain at its current level, emphasizing the need to further invest in research and development, create new supply chains to provide necessary materials and components, and educate a new generation of skilled workers to support a decarbonized economy.