10 numbers to understand China’s decarbonization movement

Decarbonization gathers momentum at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). Since five years ago, 130 more countries have committed to the common goal of carbon neutrality.

China is working to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030—and targets 2060 to be carbon neutral.

China relies on coal power for energy security and imports 60% of its oil consumption. Reducing the dependency on coal and imported energy is a high priority.

A near-term goal is to improve energy efficiency and close the gap with the world. Measured by energy consumption per dollar of GDP, China is at 150% of the global average – that is 2x the level of the US and 3x that of Japan.

Carbon neutrality by 2060 depends on China replacing 90% of its older energy sources with renewable energy like solar and wind.

Resources for solar and wind power generation are ample in China. For example, half of the world’s solar panels are already produced in China today.

In the next five-to-seven years, 10 million electric vehicles are expected to be sold per year in China. A year or two ago, it was one million cars per year.

There are 173 cars per 1,000 people in China, which is low compared to 900 in the US and 700 in both Europe and Japan.

China’s target for 2040 is for electric cars to make up 40% of all cars sold in the country, lowering overall exhaust emissions.

We see three areas in China’s decarbonization journey for interesting investment opportunities: renewable energy, electric vehicles and digitalization.

Source: UBS Greater China Conference 2022, China’s decarbonization movement with Dr Zhu Min, 11 Jan 2022.