China is the world\u2019s largest polluter by total annual emissions. The country, which is heavily reliant on coal for energy, makes up 30 per cent of global emissions. <\/p>\n
A new analysis<\/a> finds that the country\u2019s emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months.<\/p>\n What does the report show?<\/p>\n The recent analysis, conducted by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and published on Carbon Brief, finds the country is actually well on its way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.<\/a><\/p>\n The analysis found that starting from March 2024, emissions<\/a>were either flat or falling. And even as growth in electricity demand accelerated from July to September, power-sector carbon dioxide emissions were flat. <\/p>\n According to the report, if this pattern repeats, then the country\u2019s carbon dioxide emissions<\/a> will record a fall for the full year of 2025. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile an emission increase or decrease of 1 per cent or less might not make a huge difference in an objective sense, it has heightened symbolic meaning, as China\u2019s policymakers have left room for emissions to increase for several more years, leaving the timing of the peak open,\u201d writes Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. <\/p>\n Despite this trend, China is still off target for cutting carbon intensity, or the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product, between 2020 and 2025. Steeper reductions are needed to hit the county\u2019s goals, the authors write. <\/p>\n China has a record, however, of underpromising and overdelivering on its climate pledges. <\/p>\n What industries are responsible?<\/p>\n Solar<\/a>and wind power deployment helped supply to meet growing demand while keeping energy sector emissions low. In the first nine months of 2025, China added 240 gigawatts (GW) of solar and 61GW of wind capacity in the first nine months of this year.<\/p>\n This puts the country on track for another renewable record in 2025 after it installed 333GW of solar power last year – more than the rest of the world combined. <\/p>\n Electricity generation fromsolar<\/a> grew by 46 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, whereas wind grew by 11 per cent.<\/p>\n The rapid adoption of electric vehicles <\/a>(EVs) also reduced emissions from transport fuel by 5 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n Emissions from the cement, metal, and steel industries also fell during the third quarter of 2025, by 7 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. Steel production emissions also declined. <\/p>\n Also in the third quarter, oil demand and emissions in the transport sector fell by 5 per cent. But the expansion of the chemical industry increased emissions by 10 per cent, as plastic and other chemical productions surged, offsetting reductions elsewhere. <\/p>\n Looking to the future<\/p>\n China recently submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) \u2013 the country\u2019s climate action plan \u2013 for 2035, committing to reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10 per cent<\/a>from their peak. <\/p>\n