China expands green energy targets in industrial sectors

China is setting green energy targets for more industrial sectors, according to Bloomberg.

According to an announcement by the National Development and Reform Commission, steel, cement, and polysilicon producers will be required to use green energy to meet 25% to 70% of their demand in 2025 and 2026. In the 2024 announcement, for example, targets were set only for the electrolytic aluminum sector, which is also included in the latest recommendation.

In this way, the country aims to increase renewable energy consumption as solar and wind generation grows.

Under the new targets, with the exception of hydropower, provinces will also have to achieve between 10.7% and 30% renewable energy consumption by 2025 and between 12.4% and 30% by 2026, depending on their location.

In the first half of this year, the Chinese renewable energy sector saw an increase in the number of installations, partly due to expected policy changes that could hamper profitability. Sentiment in the solar energy sector, which is struggling with excess capacity, is being boosted by speculation about potential government support and other measures.

It should be noted that by the end of May, China’s installed renewable energy capacity reached 2.09 billion kW, more than double the target set for the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), according to Zhou Haibin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission.

According to him, currently, every third kWh of electricity consumed in the country comes from green energy sources.

As a reminder, China has expanded its emissions trading system to include the steel, cement, and aluminum industries. This means that another 1,500 companies will be forced to purchase carbon credits to cover their emissions. Thus, the total volume of carbon dioxide emissions covered will reach 8 billion tons, which is more than 60% of the country’s total emissions.