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The report argues that while coal's share of power generation in China has reached historic lows, institutional inertia—including capacity payments, inflexible dispatch rules, and a lack of a national retirement strategy—continues to drive high levels of new coal capacity additions. It highlights a disconnect where clean energy is growing rapidly but is often offset by the continued expansion and protection of coal assets, which are not fulfilling their intended role as flexible backups for renewables.

China is advancing a 1.3 TW pipeline of utility-scale solar and wind projects, with operating capacity reaching 1.4 TW by 2025. The country has become a global leader in offshore wind, growing its capacity to 42.7 GW by March 2025. While offshore wind is being used to decarbonize coastal industries and produce green hydrogen, the sector faces challenges from the 2021 phaseout of national subsidies and competition from ongoing coal and gas developments. The report suggests adopting hybrid auction mechanisms and centralized marine spatial planning to ensure sustainable growth.

China is advancing a 1.3 TW pipeline of utility-scale solar and wind projects, with operating capacity reaching 1.4 TW by 2025. While solar and onshore wind are expanding rapidly, particularly in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, offshore wind has emerged as a global powerhouse, accounting for 50% of global capacity. However, the offshore sector faces challenges from the 2021 phaseout of national subsidies and competition from planned coal and gas capacity in coastal provinces. The document argues for a transition from provincial development to a coordinated national policy framework incorporating hybrid auction mechanisms and robust spatial planning.

The report examines how transition finance is being leveraged to decarbonise China's steel industry, focusing on the impact of the first subnational regulatory framework introduced in Hebei Province in December 2023. It finds that the market responded quickly to these guidelines, with steel transition loans in Hebei exceeding CNY20bn (USD2.8bn) by the end of 2024. The document estimates that the sector requires at least USD18bn in capex over the next five years to invest in electric arc furnaces (EAF), direct reduced iron (DRI) shaft furnaces, and electrolysers. While large state-owned enterprises lead in transition planning, smaller firms face greater financing gaps. The report recommends that the People's Bank of China introduce further incentives, such as interest subsidies, and that steel companies secure offtake contracts to improve the bankability of green steel projects.

China is leading global renewable energy deployment with 339 GW of utility-scale solar and wind power under construction, nearly double the capacity of the rest of the world combined. By the first quarter of 2024, wind and solar accounted for 37% of China's total power capacity. While the country is on track to potentially reach 1,200 GW of installed capacity by the end of 2024, significant obstacles remain, including a reliance on coal to mitigate intermittency, insufficient Ultra High Voltage (UHV) transmission lines, and rising curtailment rates in several provinces.

China is significantly leading global renewable energy deployment, with utility-scale wind and solar projects under construction totaling 339 GW—double the combined total of all other countries. While China is on track to meet its 2030 target of 1.2 billion kW of wind and solar capacity years ahead of schedule, it faces critical challenges regarding grid stability, reliance on coal for intermittency regulation, and high curtailment rates in northern and northwestern provinces.

China is currently off track to meet its 2025 climate commitments, including targets for carbon and energy intensity and the share of non-fossil fuels. This is driven by a surge in coal power permitting and construction, with 114 GW approved and 70 GW starting construction in 2023. Despite official rhetoric that new coal plants serve a 'supporting' role for grid stability and renewable integration, the report finds this is often a 'smokescreen' for bulk power generation, leading to significant overcapacity and stranded asset risks.

China is experiencing a significant increase in coal power capacity, with 37 GW starting construction and 52 GW permitted in the first half of 2023. The report argues that most of these projects violate central government policies intended to limit coal to a supporting role for renewables, instead serving as bulk power generation. This trend, driven by energy security concerns and a desire to maximize carbon-intensive capacity before the 2030 peaking deadline, risks creating massive overcapacity and undermining China's carbon neutrality goals.

China has established itself as the global leader in renewable energy, with operating large utility-scale solar capacity of 228 GW and combined wind capacity exceeding 310 GW. The country is pursuing a strategy of 'mega wind and solar bases' in its northern and northwestern deserts to meet a central government target of 1,200 GW of cumulative capacity by 2030, a goal it is likely to surpass by 2025. This expansion is driven by a combination of historical feed-in tariffs, favorable financing from state-owned banks, and strict provincial targets. However, the report notes that new renewables bases are often bundled with new coal-fired power plants to manage intermittency, potentially hindering the phase-out of fossil fuels. To address volatility, China is implementing 'source-grid-load-storage' integration, expanding new energy storage, and developing green hydrogen production.

In 2022, China experienced a dramatic surge in coal power project activity, permitting 106 GW of new capacity—the highest level since 2015. While 50 GW started construction, representing six times the capacity of the rest of the world combined, the trend is driven by rising peak electricity loads and a rigid grid paradigm. Despite claims that new plants are for "supporting" grid stability, evidence suggests they are intended for baseload use. This expansion occurs alongside record clean energy additions, but risks undermining China's carbon neutrality goals if it leads to a moderation of clean energy buildout or increased CO2 emissions.

The report analyzes the 2021 Chinese green bond market, which saw a sharp rebound with USD 109.4bn in total issuance. It highlights the role of top-down policy guidance, such as the Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue (2021 Edition), in standardizing the market and aligning it with international principles. The analysis finds a positive correlation between local policy efficacy scores and the volume of green bond issuance, particularly in economically developed regions like the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas. However, stakeholders identify challenges including inadequate information disclosure and a lack of issuer experience in identifying green assets. The report recommends strengthening disclosure standards, developing transition finance frameworks, and expanding innovative products like sustainability-linked bonds to support high-emitting sectors.

In 2021, China's coal-fired power construction reached its highest level since 2016, with 33 GW of new capacity starting construction. Despite carbon neutrality targets, investment in long-process steel remains high, with China accounting for 85% of global new long-process capacity. The report warns that these investments lock in coal dependency and risk creating stranded assets valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. While there is growth in electric arc furnace (EAF) steel and renewable energy targets, the scale of new fossil-fuel infrastructure continues to outpace the transition needed to meet Paris Agreement goals.

The document reports a surge in China's coal power construction and coal-based steelmaking investments in 2021, contradicting the country's carbon neutrality goals. It highlights that 33 GW of new coal power plants started construction in 2021 and 74 million tonnes of coal-based steelmaking capacity were approved. The report warns that these investments risk creating billions of dollars in stranded assets and lock the sectors into coal dependency, while noting a simultaneous but insufficient scale-up of clean energy.

The document outlines a comprehensive approach to soil remediation in China, combining international technical standards for risk assessment and remediation with an analysis of China's specific legal and financial landscape. It details the process of identifying contaminated sites—using mercury (Hg) as a primary example—and evaluates various remediation technologies and their costs. The guide examines the role of stakeholders under the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Soil Contamination (LPCSC) and identifies significant financing gaps, suggesting a mix of public funds, green bonds, and blended finance to address the high costs of land rehabilitation.

The document argues that demand-side flexibility (DSF) is essential for integrating intermittent renewables and managing the electrification of transport and buildings. It identifies barriers such as inadequate economic signals and consumer passivity, while highlighting enablers like smart metering, digital aggregation platforms, and the need to align services with consumer preferences. For China, the brief suggests a transition from coal-based flexibility to decarbonised sources, proposing a hybrid approach combining market prices with administrative merit orders to manage distributed energy resources.

China faces significant economic vulnerability to climate-induced floods and heatwaves, with potential cumulative GDP losses between 6.6% and 23.5% by 2048 depending on global warming levels. The eastern and coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are particularly at risk, which could trigger global supply chain disruptions given their role as hubs for electrical manufacturing, cement, and shipping. Projections indicate that river floods could cause cumulative losses of USD 479 billion by 2035, with indirect costs often exceeding direct damages. Additionally, heatwaves are expected to reduce working capacity in key manufacturing regions by up to 2.04% under a >3°C scenario, driven by health-related productivity losses and reduced cognitive performance.

The report examines China's green finance landscape, identifying a significant gap between current investment levels and the estimated USD 1.4 trillion annual investment needed over the next decade to meet 2015 climate and environmental targets. While green credit and bonds saw success during the 13th Five-Year Plan, finance remains heavily dominated by the public sector, with at least 51% of total green finance coming from public sources, primarily Central State Owned Enterprises and state-owned banks. The document highlights barriers for private capital, such as high 'search costs' and limited access to financing channels, and notes that half of the USD 292 billion in energy-related investments to Belt and Road Initiative countries between 2013 and 2019 went to fossil fuels. It recommends increasing the ambition of green standards, improving project pipeline visibility for private actors, and introducing mandatory exclusion lists for high-emission sectors.

The report examines how China's industrial development zones (IDZs), which account for approximately 35% of total national emissions, are responding to a shift from growth-oriented policies to low-carbon mandates. It identifies a trend toward market-based instruments, such as the national cap-and-trade system, and highlights the role of eco-industrial park certifications in improving resource efficiency. Based on a survey of 230 firms, the document reveals significant gaps in GHG inventory management and policy awareness, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. It recommends streamlining administrative procedures, increasing transparency in carbon trading, and establishing a capacity-building platform called 'Low Carbon, 2030' to support the national goal of peaking emissions by 2030.

The report analyzes the PV sectors in Germany and China, finding that while deployment support has successfully driven installations and cost reductions, investment support is insufficiently linked to innovation, and direct R&D funding remains low relative to deployment subsidies. It argues that PV costs must be reduced by another 50% to achieve large-scale competitiveness, requiring a comprehensive value-chain approach and international policy coordination to maintain momentum as German support declines.

The document analyzes the 'Made in China' phenomenon, noting a shift from light industry to technology-intensive sectors like electronics, while highlighting that most firms remain in low-end, low-added-value links. It argues that traditional cost advantages are fading due to rising wages and land costs, and that the dominance of foreign-funded enterprises creates an 'enclave economy' with limited spillover to native firms. The authors recommend a 'clean' upgrading strategy inspired by the German coordinated market economy model, emphasizing long-term employment relationships, incremental innovation, and stringent environmental regulations to ensure sustainable growth.