BEIJING – In a major step forward for the country’s long-term climate and sustainable development strategy, Chinese authorities released a comprehensive policy guideline on Wednesday to scale up nationwide energy conservation and carbon reduction initiatives. The new policy document was jointly issued by two top administrative bodies: the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council.
The framework emphasizes that decarbonization and energy efficiency efforts must proceed in tandem with systematic industrial upgrading, calling for coordinated cross-sector action to balance economic growth and environmental progress. A core focus of the guideline is accelerating the adoption of energy-efficient, low-carbon and clean production technologies, specialized equipment and end products across key industrial sectors. It also outlines explicit support for integrating digital, intelligent and green technological innovations to modernize China’s traditional industrial base, bringing legacy sectors into line with national low-carbon development goals.
To lay the foundation for a cleaner energy future, the guideline lays out clear strategic priorities: capping total national consumption of both coal and oil to peak their emissions output, aggressively expanding the share of non-fossil energy in the national energy mix, scaling up emerging utility-scale energy storage systems, and speeding up construction of a flexible, renewable-centered new power system.
Beyond broad strategic direction, the policy sets out targeted implementation plans for energy conservation and carbon reduction across seven key high-impact sectors: manufacturing, construction, transportation, digital infrastructure, and public institutions operated by the government. It also confirms that strengthened regulatory oversight and performance management will be enforced to ensure all targets are met on schedule.
The policy rollout comes as China continues to advance its stated “double carbon” strategic goals, which aim to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. This new guideline provides a clear, actionable policy framework to translate long-term climate commitments into concrete, sector-specific action across the country’s economy.