China Briefing | COP30 special ✍️ @anikanpatel.carbonbrief.org @wanyuansong.bsky.social Read here ➡️ buff.ly/h9OSFvp Sign up to China Briefing ➡️ buff.ly/aLTmtZN

China Briefing | 15th ‘five-year plan’ priorities; 2035 wind goal; ‘Vehicle-to-grid’ tech ✍️ @wanyuansong.bsky.social Read here ➡️ buff.ly/DY9ol3f Sign up to China Briefing ➡️ buff.ly/aLTmtZN

Ahead of any formal party statements from 🇨🇳 China’s Fourth Plenum, official Xinhua news released a series of 7 comments on the 14th Five-year plan 🧵: - “Upholding the Party's overall leadership provides the fundamental guarantee for achieving high-quality development.” www.news.cn/fortune/2025...

This one comes with a nice interactive pulldown table of (partial) pen names used in the CCP's official People's Daily. We aim to serve!

Q&A: How China’s ‘two new’ policy aims to help cut emissions | @wanyuansong.bsky.social #CBarchive Read here: bit.ly/4bFT5Wd

China Briefing | China’s new pledge; electricity demand slows; steel overcapacity ✍️ @wanyuansong.bsky.social Read here ➡️ buff.ly/iq11k89 Sign up to China Briefing ➡️ buff.ly/aLTmtZN

#China #ChinaNDC #Climatechange A lot of western media has published reports and analysis on 🇨🇳 China’s new NDC commitments since the announcement was made yesterday. The Chinese media’s reactions, by comparison, have been noticeably quieter. 🧵

#China #ChinaNDC #Climatechange 🇨🇳 China's state news agency Xinhua published the highlights of Xi's new NDC commitment: ⭐ By 2035, China's economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 7%-10% from their peak, with the goal of achieving even higher levels. www.news.cn/world/202509...

Xi just announced China’s new NDC, from my live listen, he said: - China will by 2035 reduce economy wise GHG by 7%-10% from peak levels, “striving to do better” (I heard GHG but may just be emissions) - Will increase "non-fossil fuels" to over 30%

Xi is making a speech at the UN Climate Summit 2025 now

It has taken me a long time to get this piece published – being on sick leave for a month and other things etc – I am really glad that it is finally meeting the public. And huge thanks to all the experts who gave me help!

The closing plenary of the #SB62 has finally gotten underway, more than three hours late, with the co-chair noting there are elements without conclusion

Following my post about no 🇬🇧 official announcement on the first 🇬🇧🇨🇳 climate dialogue, I received the 🇬🇧 official "press release" at request. Please see the highlights below, from today's China Briefing. I also post here the information that wasn't included in today's newsletter, due to word limits🧵

Had great fun at the 2025 Bath Conference on China and Global Sustainability Transition. Report on it coming out tomorrow!

Huang Runqiu, 🇨🇳 environment minister, met 🇬🇧's Ed Miliband and Rachel Kyte on 16th. No big 🇨🇳 state media nor major 🇬🇧outlet mentioned it. A report about the meeting appeared on the 🇨🇳 environment ministry's website on 18th, but the 🇬🇧gov hasn't said anything about it. finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2025-06...

Trump said 🇨🇳 agreed to supply 🇺🇸 critical minerals. Tian Jietang, director-general of the research department @ China's central gov told me that the minerals are a “very important factor” for “new energy”, but the “reason” behind the turmoil is “not from 🇨🇳”, adding 🇨🇳 is “always open” for cooperation.

解读：何为中国城市低碳转型的“深圳模式”？ | Henry Zhang 和 @wanyuansong.bsky.social‬ 深圳是中国首个将公交车、出租车和网约车全部实现电气化的城市，其新能源汽车渗透率也远高于全国平均水平。尽管深圳在碳减排领域很早就采取了措施，但一些专家对Carbon Brief表示，深圳的政策——这被当地政府称为“深圳模式”——很难在中国其他进行低碳转型的城市复制。 点击阅读中文翻译： buff.ly/AE6ONDp

🇨🇳 as a country has made steady progress in CO2 mitigation, what about its cities? In my latest article with Henry Zhang, we assessed the green transition progress in Shenzhen – a city of 18m people bordering 🇭🇰, 🧵: Thanks to Heran Zheng, Xinyi Shen, @yanqin.bsky.social and Wei Fulei for insights!

Honoured to give quotes to German media outlet Taz about China's emissions. If you read German, hope you find the article useful 😜 taz.de/Sinkende-CO-...

In my latest writing for Debriefed newsletter, I talked about Taiwan 🧵: Taiwan will shut down its last nuclear power reactor on 17 May. Nuclear provided 12% of electricity Taiwan used in 2016 and about 3% in 2025.

What’s happened this week in climate change? DeBriefed | Australia elects climate action; Spain ‘committed’ to renewables; Taiwan’s nuclear phaseout ✍️ Written by @wanyuansong.bsky.social 📝 Edited by @daisydunne.carbonbrief.org Read here ➡️ buff.ly/bgjT8sp

Congratulations! 🎊🎉 It's a hard decision for the environment category, we love all the reports. The winners are: - Cattle Hustle | Mekong Eye - The ‘black box’ of the Mare Doricum | Epicentro.Tv - Poison PR | Lighthouse Reports et al Special Mention: Bhutan: Green paradise in danger | Arte

China Briefing | US-China tariff war; AI and data centres; Coal construction ‘till 2027’ ✍️ @wanyuansong.bsky.social Read here ➡️ buff.ly/goUo9ZP

Carbon Brief's new piece on AI and data centre's energy usage and carbon emissions in China by @yuanyeahyuan.bsky.social www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-ho...

China released Q1 production data (year-on-year): Raw coal ⬆️ 8.1% Coke coal ⬆️ 2.4% Crude oil ⬆️ 1.1% Oil ⬆️ 1.6% Gas ⬆️ 4.3% *Thermal power ⬇️ 4.7%* Hydro power ⬆️ 5.9% Nuclear power ⬆️ 12.8% Wind power ⬆️ 9.3% Solar power ⬆️ 19.5% www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/2025...

The crisis for UK steel is exposing another – perhaps even bigger – crisis for the UK Our news media seems incapable of even the most basic factchecking YES energy for UK steelmakers is costly NO it's not due to net-zero YES it is due to GAS Here's what UK media isn't telling you🧵

New IEA report:🇨🇳 accounted for 25% of global data-centre electricity consumption in 2024, the2️⃣largest following 🇺🇸 Most🇨🇳 centres are in the east where 70% of electricity is from coal, but renewables+nuclear should make up 60% of data centres' electricity supply by 2035. www.iea.org/news/ai-is-s...

This is worth reading if you've watched Adolescence:

Watched the amazing Kyoto play with @carbonbrief.org colleagues! It's a brilliant writing and stage design, bringing audience to the conferende halls of COP1-3 and "forcing" you to think about #climatechange and what we can do for the 🌍. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in climate change.

I completely missed this *absurdly* valuable China climate and energy glossary from @wanyuansong.bsky.social. An antidote to the rampant misinformation about China flooding Western channels.

What does "dual carbon" "1+n" "dual carbon" "two new", etc, mean? Check my latest glossry, explaining jargon appearing in China’s climate-related lexicon. The glossary includes explanations of the Chinese political system and the functions of departments within the system.

Thank you! Hope my latest glossary of climate, energy, and political terms used in China can be useful for you all!

🎉 I'm delighted to announce that I'll be the Chair judge of the "Environmental Reporting Award" for the 37th One World Media Award🏆! This's an absolute honour. Many thanks for the trust that @oneworldmedia.bsky.social gave me. I look forward to it! 🎊 oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/2025-...

🇨🇳 emphasised the “two new” (两新) at “two sessions” for boosting consumption. The policy was first announced in 2023, but was heavily promoted in 2024 and updated in 2025. It covers 4 aspects: - Equipment updates - Trade-in - Recycling - Improving standards for product efficiency and emissions. 🧵

New report from @sandholt.bsky.social and Wang Zhongying from the the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research – a “national high-end thinktank” under the central gov shows🧵: China will need to install around 10,000GW💨 and🌞 capacity, up from the current 1408GW, to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.

🇨🇳2025 "two sessions" ended. The graphic below shows top priorities written in the most important "gov work report" over the past 5️⃣ years (14th "five-year plan") 🧵: 💸 "Expanding domestic demand" is back at the top, indicating the urgency for the government to tackle the slowing economic growth;

Carbon Brief 采访清华大学王灿教授 | @wanyuansong.bsky.social Carbon Brief采访清华大学环境规划与管理系主任王灿教授，讨论世界实现净零排放的主要障碍、欧盟碳边境调整机制（CBAM）、中国2035气候承诺（NDC）、碳市场、“碳双控” 政策、“十四五” 规划、碳达峰时间表、电气化、储能和氢能等。 点击阅读中文翻译：https://buff.ly/BYGrPKf

🇨🇳appointed Li Gao to be the vice minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, replacing Zhao Yingmin, who was the head of 🇨🇳 delegation at COP29. Li Gao has a strong academic background on climate and environment, according to his official CV. 👇 www.mee.gov.cn/xxgk2018/xxg...

Trump berates Zelensky, the leader of a democratic country courageously fighting Russian imperialism, while he allies himself with Putin, a dictator who started the bloodiest European war in 80 years. Sorry, President Trump. We believe in democracy, not authoritarianism.

I rarely share any opinions about anything, but this is outrageous. Zelensky is not going all the way to the US to "play cards." He went there for all of us that want peace, democracy and freedom! I can't believe he was treated like this in a country where once was viewed as the beacon of light!

Honestly couldn't believe this is a question that matters at a president level meeting about peace and war!! He can wear whatever he likes!

US Dept of Defence, under Trump, will now "cease unnecessary spending…including [on]…so-called 'climate change' and other woke programs". Analysts has been warning about the risks of climate change to military effectiveness for 35 years. But, hey, ideology is explosive when in proximity to reason.

NEW – Explainer: How China’s renewable pricing reforms will affect its climate goals ✍️ By @anikanpatel.carbonbrief.org ⬇️ Read here: bit.ly/433RJCs

In the past two years, floods ruined soybeans growing in Brazil, a hurricane destroyed millions of $$ worth of crops in Jamaica and drought hit Sri Lankan rice This new interactive map gives a snapshot of how extreme weather is damaging crops, feat. 100 news stories from 2023-24 buff.ly/42Rqf2D

How does data scientist work? My colleague @vernerviisas.carbonbrief.org explained the interesting data work he did behind the scene for Carbon Brief's recent piece checking the UK's airport expansion. I would highly recommend whoever is interested in data jobs to read it!

China began building 94.5 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-power capacity and resumed 3.3GW of suspended projects in 2024, the highest level of construction in the past 10 years. Check my colleague Anika's coverage www.carbonbrief.org/chinas-const...

In the latest China Briefing issue, I explored the “green” efforts Harbin made for Asian Winter Games. 🔑 findings: 103,710GWh of electricity were produced in Heilongjiang from Jan-Oct 2024, with about 29% being "green". The games need <3% of the green electricity generated in an average month.

My interview with Prof Wang Can, director of environment department at the Tsinghua University. He shared views on the EU’s CBAM, China’s 2035 NDC, carbon market, “dual control of carbon” policy, the 14th “five-year plan”, carbon “peaking” timeline, electrification, energy storage and hydrogen.

Countering 🇺🇸 10% tariffs on Chinese products, 🇨🇳announced to impose a 10-15% tariff on US products from 10 Feb, with an additional export control on several rare metals – some used for low-carbon techs like wind turbines. The official statement explained 🇨🇳's motive: www.mof.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi...

灵蛇迎春至，祥福伴年来。感谢各位读者在过去一年对@carbonbrief 的关注与支持，预祝大家新年快乐，蛇年大吉！ Happy year of the snake! 🐍