Over the last decade, China was responsible for more than half of the overall global increase of low-carbon generation, with an almost threefold increase in renewables-based power generation and a fivefold increase of nuclear power generation. This additional low-carbon generation accounted for a much larger share of incremental demand with respect to the share in 2010, bringing the overall share of low-carbon power generation in 2020 to one-third of total electricity generation. Consequently, the CO2 emissions intensity decreased by 17% over the decade, although still remaining high at over 600 g CO2/kWh in 2020.
China has the potential and the ambition to continue both electrification and decarbonisation of the power sector at the required pace, despite a slowdown in 2020. Given the high rate of success in achieving both actions over the past decade, all the “traffic lights” that compare the past performance to the forthcoming needs are – unlike most of the other countries analysed – either green or yellow, indicating that the country is mostly in line with the requirements to 2030 (Table 5.4.A). The ability of China to maintain this pace, step up efforts where needed and further decarbonise its economy will be of fundamental importance also for all global trends.