Energy related carbon emissions in China 2020-2050

Under the Paris agreement, world leaders agreed to stop the global temperature in this century from rising more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. Some leaders even demanded that the temperature should not rise any more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, current policies regarding the transition to renewable energies in China do not seem sufficient for this purpose. The forecasted carbon emissions related to energy in the country is expected to be around 3.3 gigatonnes by 2050. This would amount to one third of the emissions levels of 2020, but still a whole gigatonne of carbon emissions short of the Paris agreement target.  Energy sources With economic development in China having grown for decades, so has its primary energy consumption, soaring from barely above 42 million exajoules in 2000 to over 141 million exajoules as of 2019. Despite efforts to adopt a higher share of renewable energy for years, coal continues to be the main source of energy in China, accounting for over half of all primary energy consumption in the country currently.  Development of renewable energy  In line with global trends, China also started stepping up its game regarding clean energy. From 2008 to 2018, the production of renewable energy in the country has increased threefold to over 1,800 terawatt hours. Among the various types of renewable energy, solar power is the fastest growing type in China.

在巴黎协定框架下，世界各国领导人承诺在本世纪内将全球气温上升幅度控制在工业革命前水平以上不超过两摄氏度。部分领导人甚至提出，气温上升幅度不应超过1.5摄氏度。然而，我国关于向可再生能源转型的现行政策似乎不足以达成此目标。预计到2050年，我国与能源相关的碳排放量将达到约33亿吨。这一数字相当于2020年排放水平的三分之一，但与巴黎协定的目标仍相差整整10亿吨。在能源结构方面，随着我国数十年的经济发展，一次能源消耗量也急剧增长，从2000年的不足4200百万焦耳增长至2019年的超过14100百万焦耳。尽管多年来我国致力于提高可再生能源在能源结构中的占比，但煤炭仍是我国能源消费的主要来源，目前占全国一次能源消耗总量的一半以上。在可再生能源发展方面，我国也顺应全球趋势，开始加大对清洁能源的投入。自2008年至2018年，我国可再生能源的产量增长了三倍，超过1800太瓦时。在各种可再生能源类型中，太阳能在中国的发展速度最快。