Climate Change in China's 12th Five year plan

China’s economic planning document, the 12th Five Year Plan was endorsed by the National People’s Congress on 14 March 2011.

Climate change and energy: key priorities

China’s Five Year Plan seeks to establish a 'green, low-carbon development concept'. This is the first Plan to include a commitment to gradually introduce market mechanisms to control carbon pollution.

These details are drawn from translations of China’s 12th Five Year Plan.

Key energy and climate targets in the 12th Five Year Plan

China announced several new carbon and energy targets from 2010 levels, namely:

  • increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption to 11.4 per cent by 2015
  • reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 16 per cent from 2010 levels by 2015, and
  • reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 17 per cent from 2010 levels by 2015.

Clean technology in the 12th Five Year Plan

The Five Year Plan highlighted priority 'strategic emerging industries' for industrial innovation and development. These included:

  • energy efficiency technologies, recycling, and waste management 
  • advanced nuclear energy, wind, solar, smart grids and biomass, and
  • hybrid and pure electric vehicles.

Market mechanisms in the 12th Five Year Plan

The Five Year Plan refers to establishing low-carbon product standards, improving the statistical accounting systems for greenhouse gas emissions and the 'step by step establishment of carbon emission trading markets'. The use of market mechanisms to incentivise energy savings was included in the Plan.  

Quick facts

  • China has the world's largest installed renewable energy electricity generation capacity.1
  • In the five years to 2010, energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 19.06 per cent, nearly meeting the 20 per cent goal set in the 11th Five Year Plan.2
  • China is currently closing one inefficient high polluting power plant every one to two weeks.3 In the five years to 2010, China decommissioned over 70 gigawatts of smaller, inefficient power plants. 4 This is greater than the entire registered generation capacity in the National Electricity Market in Australia which was just under 50 gigawatts in the 2009–10 financial year. 5

International commitments

Under the United Nations climate change agreements China has pledged to:

  • lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40–45 per cent by 2020 compared to 2005
  • increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 15 per cent by 2020, and
  • increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares and forest stock volume by 1.3 billion cubic meters by 2020 from 2005.

1   Renewables 2010, Global Status Report, http://documents.rec.org/topic-areas/REN21_GSR_2010.pdf, p.10, accessed on 22/3/11.

2   Report on the Work of the Government, http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/2011NPCWorkReportEng.pdf, accessed 22/03/11; China’s 12th Five-year plan.

3   Progress towards effective global action on climate change. Garnaut Update; http://www.garnautreview.org.au/update-2011/update-papers/up2-progress-towards-effective-global-action-climate-change.pdf; p.26. Accessed on 22/03/11.

4   Report on the Work of the Government, http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/2011NPCWorkReportEng.pdf, accessed 22/03/11; China’s 12th Five-year plan.

5   Australian Energy Regulator, State of the Energy Market Report 2010.