The government of China has released its five-year plan for the 2021-2025 period, which includes some detail on its aims in regards to energy. The plan repeats the goal of achieving 20% non-fossil fuels in the energy mix by 2025, a step towards the 2060 target of carbon neutrality and the 2030 target of peaking emissions (a plan towards which will be completed later in the year).

Part of the non-fossil make up will include nuclear energy, with China aiming for 60 GW of installed capacity by the end of the five-year plan. In addition, China is aiming to expand its unconventional oil and gas resource development, which would include shale reserves as well as offshore fields. Natural gas expansion is also a focus, with infrastructure to be built to expand imports from Russia and also to distribute it from the south-western Sichuan province to the east.

The government wishes to further reduce the carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions intensity of its industry by a further 18% over the 2021-25 period (while reducing energy intensity by 13.5%), and called for “appropriately managing” the pace of coal power expansion. This latter lack of attention to curbing the use of coal will come as a worry to many across the world.