Limits on land use could keep China from installing wind turbines and solar farms as quickly as necessary to meet the country’s net-zero target of 2060.
The world’s largest emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases needs to rapidly scale up wind and solar installations if it intends to zero out its rising emissions, according to a new joint study by researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the University of California, San Diego. They estimated China must scale up its additions of wind and solar energy to reach 300 gigawatts each year by midcentury, close to the record high installations achieved in 2023 but a potential challenge to sustain over time.
a new joint study
China also needs to deploy infrastructure capable of storing up 1,000 GW of energy and double or triple the construction of high-voltage transmission lines to carry power to towns and cities.
“China is going to have to build a lot of renewable energy and other infrastructure in order to achieve its carbon neutrality goals. These are significant, unprecedented and will have to expand and increase its deployment rates beyond what it’s been doing historically,” said Michael Davidson, a professor at the School of Global Policy at UC San Diego and a co-author of the study.
