China’s CO2 Emissions Might Have Finally Peaked
China has rapidly become the world leader in renewable energy, but continued coal use means it could take longer for its emissions to decline
A coal-fired power plant in China.
AerialPerspective Images/Getty Images
China’s carbon dioxide emissions have plateaued in 2025, indicating the country may have reached a peak after years of being the world’s top emitter.
The plateau reflects how China’s record-setting build-out of wind and solar power and rapid expansion into electric vehicles has tempered fossil-fuel emissions, according to the nonprofit Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
China accounts for around one third of all global greenhouse gas emissions, although historically the U.S. has emitted more carbon. Russia, the U.S. and the European Union long ago used up their “carbon budget” that would allow the world to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. China’s swift industrial growth—and its burning of coal—means that it is now close to using up its own budget, too.
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China has become a world leader in renewable energy, but it is also still adding coal-fired power plants to meet growing power demand. Still, if the flat emissions level is maintained, Beijing could see its emissions peak before its stated 2030 goal. Bringing emissions down from that peak, however, could remain a challenge.
“[A prolonged plateau] would push the world further off course from the Paris Agreement temperature goals,” Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told E&E News’s Climatewire.
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