Talatang, China (AP) – Chinese government officials rose high on the Tibetan Plateau last month Solar Farm When completed, it is 610 square kilometers (235 square miles), the size of a city in Chicago, USA.
China is like that Installing the solar panel At a fierce pace, far faster than anywhere else in the world, investment is beginning to pay off. A survey released Thursday found that the country’s carbon emissions fell by 1% in the first six months of the year compared to the previous year, extending the trend that began in March 2024.
The good news is that China’s carbon emissions could have peaked much earlier than the government’s goal of doing so before 2030. However, China, The world’s largest emitter Greenhouse gases need to beat them sharper to play their part in slowing down global climate change.
To achieve China’s declared goals Carbon Neutrality By 2060, Lauri Myllyvirta, author of the Finland-based study and lead analyst at the Centre for Energy Research, said emissions should drop by 3% on average over the next 35 years.
“China needs to reach that 3% territory as soon as possible,” he said.
China’s emissions are declining even with more electricity
China’s emissions have fallen earlier during the slowdown in the economy. The difference this time is that electricity demand is rising – an increase of 3.7% in the first half of this year, but the increase in solar, wind and nuclear power is easily surpassed, according to Myllyvirta, analyzing the latest data in a study published on the UK-based Carbon Brief website.
“We’re talking for the first time about the structural downward trend in China’s emissions,” he said.
The bird is on a cable strung between solar panels in Hainan County, western Qingdao Province, western China on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 (AP Photo/ng han guan)
China installed a solar capacity of 212 gigawatts in the first six months of the year. This exceeds the entire 178 gigawatt capacity of America as of the end of 2024, the study says. Electricity from solar has surpassed hydropower in China and is poised to surpass winds to become the biggest clean energy source of the year. Approximately 51 gigawatts of wind power were added between January and June.
Li Shuo, director of the Chinese Climate Hub at the Institute for Policy Research in Asia in Washington, explained that he described China’s carbon emissions as a turning point in his efforts to combat climate change.
“This is a moment of global importance, providing an unusual faint light of hope for an otherwise dark climate landscape,” he wrote in an email response. It also shows that the country can reduce emissions while growing economically, he said.
However, Lee warned that China is heavy Dependence on coal He said it remains a serious threat to climate progress and that the economy needs to move to a lesser resource-intensive sector. “We still have a long way to go,” he said.
One solar farm can power 5 million households
The seemingly endless spread of solar panels extends towards the horizon of the Tibetan Plateau. White two-storey buildings rise above them regularly. Sheep Grazing With rough vegetation growing under them.
Solar panels are installed on approximately two-thirds of the land. Once completed, there are over 7 million panels, which can generate enough power for 5 million households.
Tibetan sheep are grazing on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 at a solar farm in Hainan County, western Qingdao Province, China (AP Photo/ng han guan)
Like many solar farms and wind farms in China, it was built in the relatively sparse west. The major challenge is to supply electricity to population centers and factories in eastern China.
“The distribution of green energy resources is perfectly aligned with the current industrial distribution of our country,” Qingdao Province’s lieutenant governor Zhang Jinming told journalists on a government-organized tour.
Part of the solution is to build power lines that cross the country. It connects Qinghai to Henan Province. Two more are planned. One is located in the southeastern Guangdong province, and the other is on the opposite corner of the country.
The pastor will release Tibetan sheep to graze on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 at a solar farm in Hainan County, Qingdao Province, western China.
Maximizing power is hampered by the relatively inflexible way that China’s power grid is managed, tailored to the stable power of coal plants and tailored to the stable power of coal plants, Myllyvirta said.
“This is an issue policymakers are trying to recognize and manage, but there is a need for major changes in the way coal-fired power plants operate and the way transmission networks operate,” he said. “So that’s not a small job.”
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Moritug reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Wayne Chang contributed.
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