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This report by Global Energy Monitor and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) analyzes the state of coal power expansion in China as of February 2026. It highlights a critical divergence where coal capacity reached a decade-high in 2025 despite falling generation and the rapid growth of clean energy and storage. The authors argue that current investment incentives and a large project pipeline risk locking in overcapacity and hindering China's 2030 climate targets, urging a fundamental shift in coal's role from baseload power to a flexible, residual support resource during the 15th Five-Year Plan.

As of May 2025, China's installed solar and wind capacity reached 1.4 billion kilowatts, surpassing thermal power for the first time in Q1 2025. The country has over 1.3 billion kilowatts of additional projects planned or under construction, with significant concentrations in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. While offshore wind has grown rapidly to 42.7 million kilowatts (49% of global capacity), it faces challenges following the 2021 removal of national subsidies, prompting a shift toward provincial policies and technical innovation in deep-sea and floating wind platforms.

RMI has developed a calculator to determine the emissions parity between natural gas and coal, highlighting that methane leakage can make gas as damaging to the climate as coal. The briefing argues that the perception of natural gas as a 'cleaner' fuel is often incorrect because even low leakage rates can negate the greenhouse gas benefits of substituting coal with gas.

This report by RMI analyzes trends in the deep decarbonization of China's industrial sector, which accounts for over 65 percent of the nation's energy consumption and over 70 percent of its carbon emissions. The analysis identifies five key trends: energy efficiency improvements, the scaling of recycling and reuse, increased electrification, the development of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), and the growth of hydrogen utilization.

The Bank of Dalian Co., Ltd. issued a CNY2bn (USD290m) green bond on 27 December 2018 with a three-year tenor, intended to finance 11 projects in the transport and water treatment sectors.

This briefing paper provides a detailed status update as of April 10, 2024, on the climate policies, energy trends, and bilateral engagement between China and the United States. It outlines China's progress toward its 2030 and 2060 carbon goals, the U.S. implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the diplomatic efforts to maintain climate cooperation despite broader geopolitical tensions.