The highlights of China's new energy system targets, as announced by the country's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) in the upcoming 5-year plan, include non-fossil energy, the transition to renewable energy, growth of clean energy, the country's climate targets, and energy sector reform. The goal is to ramp up the use of non-fossil sources to 50% of total power generation by 2030, and peak levels of coal and oil consumption by the same time.

China's plans to transform its power industry continue to be highlighted in the announcement, as China has been working on expanding its renewable energy generation and phasing out fossil fuels. Environmental and energy transition unions have, however, lambasted the targets, noting that they could be insufficient to meet the magnitude of emission cuts needed.

China's Energy Transition Targets under the New 5-Year Plan

The new plan calls for non-fossil energy to play an important role in China's future power supply. The proportion of non-fossil fuels electricity generation in the country is projected to rise from 42.3% in 2025 to 50% in 2030.

But analysts have warned that while a larger proportion of power may be generated from clean sources, the total amount of electricity produced from fossil fuels could still rise as a result of a growing demand for electricity. The current targets might not be a more ambitious bet, said Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The targets in the plan aren't stronger than what China should be doing anyway to meet existing targets, Myllyvirta said, and it would take more action to keep China's energy transition on track.

The goal of expanding renewable energy and increasing capacity goals.

It also has a target of 25% non-fossil energy consumption in China by 2030. Its vision is to have more than 50% of the country's installed power generation from wind and solar power.

The needed annual wind and solar installation would be around 170 gigawatts (GW), Myllyvirta said. This is close to 430GW of new capacity to be added in 2025, suggesting that the goal could be met but with continued growth.

In recent years, the Chinese government has continued to boost investments in renewable energy, with wind and solar energy being two of the fastest-growing areas of the country's energy mix.

Fossil fuel dependency issues are discussed.Issues concerning fossil fuels are raised.

Even with the rapid growth of renewable energy, coal's share of China's energy consumption is still greater than half of the total. China is also the world's biggest emitter of GHGs, accounting for almost 30% of global GHG emissions in 2024.

Energy transition groups have pointed out that the continued reliance on coal presents problems to China's climate promises. They stated that the nation's emissions reductions would need to be accelerated by deploying renewables faster and setting more stringent limits on fossil fuels.

The new energy plan comes on the heels of targets set for climate and energy action earlier this year, which were also deemed by some analysts as "modest" compared with China's previous energy initiatives.

Electrification and Energy Storage Targets

The new plan additionally contains more objectives to enhance energy efficiency and promote the uptake of electricity in the sectors. China has established a milestone of 35% share of electricity in the total final energy consumption by 2030, compared to 30% in 2025.

The plan also seeks to install 300 GW of new energy storage capacity, which would help to integrate more renewables into the grid, such as wind and solar power.

There are, however, some areas of the plan that are stronger, such as electrification and expansion of energy storage, said Myllyvirta. But the overall goals are not ambitious enough to spur China's shift from fossil fuels, he said.

China's Climate plan under pressure.

China's new energy targets reflect the nation's effort to achieve a balance between economic development, energy security and emissions reduction. The growth of renewables will continue but there is a worry that the current targets will not bring the transition away from coal and the other fossil fuels fast enough.

Whether China will exceed the targets it has pledged or take more intense action to reach its long-term climate goals will be up to the next few years.