Launch of the China Renewable Energy Outlook 2020 in Beijing

On 28 January 2021, the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission (ERI of NDRC) together with the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) and other international partners presented the main results of the China Renewable Energy Outlook 2020 (CREO 2020). The event was hosted by the Danish embassy in Beijing and co-organized by several other parties including the International Energy Agency (IEA), which launched its IEA Renewable Energy Market Report. CREO 2020 outlines a detailed path for China to achieve the Paris Agreement targets and thereby support the ambitious Chinese climate goal of carbon neutrality in 2060. The outlook shows that China is in a position where it can create the foundation for its energy revolution.

Key results show the importance of a fast development of wind and solar power to achieve China’s targets of the Paris Agreement. In 2020, China added a record of 120 GW wind and solar power capacity. A development that shows it is realistic to reach the 1,200 GW target even before the estimated target in 2030.

The CREO is the flagship of the Sino-Danish cooperation on energy transition and serves as highly valued input for Chinese national energy policy, taking the temperature on China’s green energy transformation. Its main purpose is to provide a long-term scenario view of the future Chinese energy system, and develop policy recommendations for cost-effective initiatives that could be implemented to reach the below 2-degree target in the Paris Agreement. From 2021, the CREO will be become a broader China Energy Outlook, which will include analyses of the entire Chinese energy sector. The new outlook will also focus on the provincial development towards a green and carbon neutral energy system including a shift from a coal to renewables.