Green Development in the 2025 Government Work Report

China’s ‘Two Sessions’ – the country’s most important annual political meetings, which frame the central government’s agenda for the year, concluded on 11 March. Today’s Green China reviews some of the key energy and environmental priorities identified for 2025 and beyond.

This year’s Government Work Report (GWR) suggests that energy intensity – measured as energy consumption per unit of GDP – should fall by around 3 percent in 2025. This measure had already been cut by 3.8 percent in 2024, exceeding the initial target of 2.5 percent. Meeting this goal does not solely depend on energy efficiency improvements. As non-fossil fuels are no longer counted in the energy consumption control system, enterprises are expected to increase their use of renewable energy. The National Energy Administration (NEA) had previously outlined the necessary steps to facilitate renewable energy production, transmission, and distribution.

However, when it comes to carbon intensity reduction – calculated as a decrease of carbon emissions per unit of GDP – the GWR does not specify concrete numerical goals. Although such an omission was to be expected, it nevertheless disappointed some observers. Last year, China’s carbon intensity dropped by 3.4 percent year-on-year, missing the 3.9 percent goal set by the State Council in April 2024 – China’s first ever annual carbon intensity target. In 2021, carbon intensity decreased by a mere 0.8 percent, and remained unchanged in 2022. This slow pace of progress all but guarantees that China will miss its initial target of cutting carbon intensity by 18 percent by 2025 (compared to year-end 2020 levels).

Nevertheless, the country will continue to lay the groundwork for hitting peak carbon in 2030. The GWR envisages the continuation of regulation and standard-setting work started last year, such as carbon emissions dual-control, carbon accounting, and carbon footprint certification. The document also calls for the establishment of several “zero-carbon industrial parks” and “zero-carbon factories” in 2025. Both these terms appear in the GWR for the first time, hinting at possible future incentives for businesses to invest in renewable energy use and carbon emission reduction in manufacturing.

Finally, in this year’s ministerial interview, China’s ecology and environment minister Huang Runqiu commended all the progress made in reducing pollution over the past decade. The GWR noted that environmental agencies would consolidate the results of prior anti-pollution campaigns, with a focus on solid waste management and emergent chemical pollutants.