China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration announced a series of energy system goals under a new 5-year plan, including plans for non-fossil energy to become the primary electricity source at 50% of total power generation, and for coal and oil consumption to peak, by 2030.

While acknowledging the increased planned role for clean energy in China’s power mix, however, environmental and energy transition-focused groups criticized the new plan as lacking ambition, with Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, noting that with non-fossil energy at 42.3% of power generation already in 2025, fossil-based generation could still increase significantly if power generation grows at only 5% per year.

Myllyvirta said:

“China’s newly released five-year plan for the energy sector has very little to get excited about. To keep China’s energy transition on track, the targets have to be exceeded by a wide margin, or ambition has to be nudged up from the top.”

China produces more greenhouse gases (GHG) than any other country, accounting for nearly 30% of GHG emissions in 2024, more than double that of 2nd place U.S. Coal continues to account for the largest share of China’s energy share, representing more than half of energy consumption.

The new plan follows the release earlier this year by China of a climate and energy transition-related goals, also seen as cautious relative to its prior emissions reduction and energy goals and progress.

Additional 2030 targets included in the new plan include goals for non-fossil energy to account for 25% of total energy consumption, and for wind and solar to make up more than 50% of total installed power generation capacity, although Myllyvirta noted that the latter goal required a buildout of around 170 GW per year, compared with 430 GW added in 2025.

Myllyvirta noted several more ambitious parts of the plan including an electrification goal to have 35% of final energy use from electricity by 2030, up from 30% in 2025, and a target to add 300 GW of new energy storage, but noted that overall “the targets in the plan are generally weaker than what the country needs to do anyway to meet existing targets.”