Welcome to Carbon Brief’s Cropped. We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.
Key developments
UK election impacts
LABOUR’S ENVIRONMENT PRIORITIES: The UK’s new Labour government has started to outline its priorities, with the new minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Steve Reed, setting out his five priorities in a video posted to Twitter. These were, he said: “Cleaning up British rivers, lakes and seas; creating a roadmap to move Britain to a zero-waste economy; supporting farmers to boost Britain’s food security; ensuring nature’s recovery; and protecting communities from flooding.” Edie reported that the UK “ranks in the bottom 10% of nations globally in terms of biodiversity intactness”, and that it is nowhere near its national goal of protecting 30% of its land and sea by 2030.
AGRICULTURE PLANS: However, a budget for farming was notably absent from the Labour manifesto. Nick von Westenholz, the National Farmers Union’s (NFU) director for strategy, told Euractiv last week that setting the budget for the environmental land management schemes (Elms), which will replace the EU’s multimillion farming subsidy programme by 2027, was “crucial”. Under Elms, farmers can receive subsidies for actions such as reducing pesticide use, planting wildflowers and preventing groundwater pollution. (See Carbon Brief’s 2023 explainer for more details.) Making the Elms subsidies financially attractive to farmers was a key issue, von Westenholz said: “There is a concern about the budget not being sufficient and that there won’t be enough of a business case for farmers to adopt the scheme”. Last week, Carbon Brief analysed the climate issues that the new Labour government will have to address, including those on land, agriculture and nature.
CONSERVATIONISTS REACT: Inkcap Journal summarised the positive, but cautious, reactions of conservation champions to Labour’s victory. Charities including the RSPB and CPRE urged the new prime minister to “act quickly on nature”, highlighting that upcoming decisions will “affect all UK wildlife immensely”. The Wildlife Trusts commended Labour’s “welcome commitments on nature and climate”, but published a list of priorities for the new government, including a review of the Environmental Improvement Plan and increasing the budget for wildlife-friendly farming. Experts also shared their views with Carbon Brief on what Labour’s priorities should be for climate action.
African farmers’ woes
DOUBLE THREAT: In the Conversation, University of Cape Town researcher Dr Vuyisile Moyo described the challenges facing farmers in Zimbabwe due to the “combination of heat, droughts and floods caused by climate change, and water contamination and damaged land caused by illegal, small-scale mining”. There are an estimated 400,000 illegal, small-scale miners in the country and their operations have resulted in “deforestation, land degradation, water pollution and loss of biodiversity”, Moyo wrote. One farmer told Moyo: “My farm was encroached by the artisanal miners who believed that there is a lot of gold there. My farmland was dug all over and now I no longer have land for crop production.”
MALNUTRITION AND DROUGHT: Al Jazeera carried a gallery of photos from drought-stricken Zimbabwe, with one farmer telling the outlet: “I did not harvest anything after all my effort and using all our savings to buy seeds.” Malnutrition is on the rise in the eastern Zimbabwean district of Mudzi, with cases jumping “by about 20%” over the past three months. The outlet added that “Zimbabwe and neighbouring Malawi and Zambia are among the countries in southern Africa most affected by malnutrition” amid the drought. In nearby Namibia, cattle sales have increased by nearly 50% as farmers facing the “biting effects of drought” have been forced to sell off their herds, the Namibian reported. As a result of the influx of cattle to the market, producers’ prices declined by nearly 4% since last year, the outlet added.
‘FOOD SECURITY CRISIS’: In South Africa’s Western Cape province, “informal settlements have been waterlogged for days” following heavy rains, Ground Up reported. Many of the people living in these settlements are “farm workers who have been evicted from farms they used to live at”, the South African outlet wrote. The Associated Press reported that “a food security crisis lies ahead” for Kenya following devastating floods that impacted the country beginning in mid-March. And local NGOs told Devex that flooding across east Africa has left children at risk of malnutrition “because of lack of food and medical services”.
Spotlight
Murky waters
In this spotlight, Carbon Brief unpacks the agenda ahead of the International Seabed Authority, as it resumes negotiations to frame rules for deep-sea mining.
The controversial possibility of mining the deep sea for critical minerals has been catapulted to the spotlight in the past few years, from investigations into the work of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to late-night comedians in the US running dedicated segments.
Triggered by a move by Nauru in 2021, the ISA has been “under pressure” to finalise rules to regulate deep-sea mineral exploitation or risk the possibility of assessing mining applications without them.
That “what-if” scenario has become one of “what-now”, as the ISA’s 36-member council has already passed the July 2023 deadline to draw up this mining code. This atmosphere of uncertainty has since been met by a growing chorus of 27 governments that have called for some form of ban, moratorium or pause on deep-sea mining.
On Tuesday, the ISA resumed its 29th annual session in Kingston, Jamaica, with three crucial points on the agenda for its council and assembly: the debate over the mining code and a moratorium, the election of its secretary general and, for the first time ever, a discussion on the need for a general policy to protect and preserve the marine environment.
“All states have said that they don’t want [mineral] exploitation without regulation, but just how robust that regulation is, that’s the fault line,” Julian Jackson, project director of seabed mining at Pew Charitable Trusts, told Carbon Brief. According to Jackson, there are still “30 outstanding, big policy issues” to be resolved, from “permissible levels of environmental harm” – such as thresholds for toxicity – to issues of compensation and liability. He added:
“These are very technical negotiations, with yet more detailed standards and guidelines remaining to be addressed, all being done in an international, multilateral setting with very divergent views and not enough time.”
While the groundswell calling for a moratorium has grown, with banks and companies joining the fray, senior lecturer at the Borneo Marine Institute Dr Sharifah Nora Syed Ibrahim points to the fact that developed countries such as Norway have moved in the opposite direction. She told Carbon Brief:
“Norway wants to keep the option of deep-sea mining open, including within its national waters, because if oil is being phased out due to the climate movement, what other main natural resources does Norway have, other than fisheries?”
Who secures the ISA’s top post, which holds sway over the deep sea’s future, has been the subject of a huge scandal in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a New York Times investigation pointed to “allegations of possible payments to help secure votes” and attempts “to entice a candidate to withdraw from a race” amid complaints of misuse of agency funds by ISA chief Michael Lodge, who is currently eyeing a third term at the top.
While Lodge responded to the Times in a six-page statement describing the story as a “collation of vague, unsubstantiated, unfounded and anonymous rumours”, observers told Carbon Brief the allegations were being discussed on the first day of the talks.
“The science [on impacts] is way behind, the regulations are also way behind,” said Jackson:
“In the meanwhile, how do you have a multilateral organisation mired in allegations of conflicts of interest governing what is still so poorly understood?”
News and views
ARGENTINA BEEF: The consumption of beef in Argentina has fallen to a historical low, with demand forecasted to fall to the “lowest level in a century”, according to the Buenos Aires Times. A report from the Rosario Board of Trade found that annual beef consumption is now around 45kg per person, down from a peak of more than 100kg in the 1950s. Bloomberg attributed the decline to skyrocketing beef prices amidst a national recession. However, a shift to poultry, pork and plant-based diets due to greater nutritional awareness amongst consumers is also contributing, the newswire said. Argentina remains one of the biggest beef consumers globally, surpassing the UK and US (18 and 38kg per capita, respectively).
EU POLICY: The farmers’ organisation European Coordination Via Campesina has called on the EU to control agricultural prices and abandon free-trade agreements, including the long-stalled deal with the Mercosur South American trading bloc, Euractiv reported. “Farmers fear the Mercosur deal would result in markets being flooded with cheaper products”, it said. A separate Euractiv piece said that the European People’s Party is aiming to take the post of agriculture commissioner in the European Parliament in a move to solidify itself as “the farmers’ party”. Meanwhile, US paper producers have warned that new EU regulations requiring them to trace the sources of timber will cause price increases and shortages of diapers, sanitary pads and hygiene products, with Bloomberg reporting that “pulp supply chains are too diffuse to track all trees”.
‘CARBON LAUNDRY’: Brazil is “rac[ing]” to launch “one of the first major carbon emissions trading systems in the developing world”, Dialogue Earth reported. The emissions trading system aims to cover major polluting companies from sectors such as steel and cement, it added, but they would also be allowed to offset their emissions by buying credits from the voluntary market. This would need “careful regulation”, experts told the outlet, to ensure Brazil does not become “the carbon laundry of the world”. Dialogue Earth also covered controversies around “blue carbon” trading in China, where “most of the credits…involve the scientifically contentious matter of carbon sequestration by shellfish and seaweed”. Scroll.in, meanwhile, reported on “dubious” credits being generated by Himalayan hydropower projects.
WATER WARS: Amid ongoing drought in the south-western US, the country is “looking to parched northern Mexico to solve its water shortage”, Excelsior reported. The newspaper noted that the latest agreement between the two countries marks “the third consecutive year of water cuts from the Colorado River to Mexico”. In return for the reduction, Mexico will receive $65m “that will be used to improve water resources infrastructure”. Nearly two-thirds of northern cities and towns are already impacted by water shortages, including “a dozen municipalities living in a state of emergency”, Excelsior said. It added that 14 members of congress from Texas have requested the US “suspend aid to Mexico…until Mexico pays off its current water debt”.
DEFORESTATION DECREASE: Last year, Colombia “achieved its lowest deforestation rate ever recorded”, reporting a 36% decrease compared to the previous year, City Paper Bogota said. (Historical records in the country go back to 2000.) The figure represents a decrease of more than 50% over the last two years, “surpassing the initial target” set in the country’s national development plan, the outlet said. It quoted Colombian environment minister Susana Muhamad, who said: “It is a truly iconic year in this fight against deforestation.” However, Colombia Reports said that the reduction is “feared to be temporary” and that “the first quarter of this year indicated that deforestation had been going up again”.
DISPUTED MAPS: Indigenous communities in India’s western state of Gujarat have complained that district authorities rejected their forest rights claims based solely on satellite imagery collected by an autonomous state body, over other evidence such as testimonies and site inspections, IndiaSpend reported. Activists accused the GEER Foundation of “a lack of transparency”. Villagers asked to vacate their lands within 10 days told the outlet that the “notices came as a shock, as GPS and satellite imagery exercises conducted by local NGOs” support their claims. An official told IndiaSpend that the foundation “has now agreed to share their maps”, but said that “people give arbitrary estimates” of the size of their forest plots. Separately, the Financial Times reported that Australia has asked for a delay of the EU deforestation law regime citing “incorrect data”, with a spokesperson stating that “[t]he EU’s map is not a single source of truth”.
Watch, read, listen
BALANCING ACT: On her Feed the Planet podcast, Prof Sarah Bridle talked to researcher Barbara Bray about how to balance humans’ health with that of the planet.
COMEBACK KID: Mongabay carried a two-part series on the “re-introduction” of the Spix’s macaw that went extinct in the wild, but now faces an “uncertain future”.
STICKER SHOCK: In a new video, Al Jazeera explored how climate change has played a role in the global increases in food prices and inflation.
PORK OUT: Vox carried a long read that looked at how factory farming was “shoring up public support” by “funding favourable research” from US public university scientists.
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change
Grape growers in parts of the Mediterranean should consider reducing their crop’s exposure to sun and optimising water usage to help vineyards adapt to climate change, according to new research. The researchers aimed to understand how climate change will impact wine-growing areas in Portugal, Italy, Turkey and Morocco. Using scenarios under moderate (RCP4.5) and very high emissions (RCP8.5), the researchers compared the main climate-related challenges these locations will face and assess the “best strategies to reduce the impacts of climate change at the national and regional levels”. The conclusions of the study “may support local growers” in optimising “sustainable production under changing climates”, the researchers wrote.
A new study found that severe droughts “routinely disrupt inland water transport and isolate local populations” in the Brazilian Amazon, resulting in restricted access to food, medicine, education and more. By combining historical records of river streamflow, maps of human settlements and news reports, researchers analysed the impacts of lowered river levels on communities near the Amazon River. They found that droughts over the past two decades “have not only caused exceptional low-water anomalies across the Amazon basin, but also dramatically increased the duration of the low-water period”, contributing to communities’ isolation. They concluded: “Given this new reality, Amazon countries must develop long-term strategies for mitigation, adaptation and disaster response.”
New research found that planted mangroves store nearly three-quarters of the amount of carbon stored by untouched mangroves over 20 to 40-year timescales. Analysing data from 684 planted mangrove stands around the world, researchers looked at the carbon storage both below and above ground and determined how carbon storage rates change over time. They found that planted stands that incorporate more than one mangrove species “would maximise [carbon] accumulation within the biomass compared to monospecific planting”. The authors concluded: “Our models also facilitate goal setting; performance measure development; and progress tracking in restoration, rehabilitation or afforestation projects.”
China has released its “15th five-year plan for the development of renewable energy”, outlining key targets and policies for the sector in 2026-2030.
A key focus of the plan is boosting renewable generation and consumption as a share of China’s overall energy mix.
It calls for continued capacity additions of wind and solar – albeit at lower levels than previous years – as well as hydropower, biomass and other clean-energy sources.
Specifically, China will aim to install 3,500 gigawatts (GW) of renewables capacity by 2030, 2,800GW will be wind and solar.
The country had previously pledged to install 1,200GW of wind and solar by 2030, a goal that China met six years early.
Another major theme is the provision of wind and solar supply that is “dependable” and “grid-friendly”.
Setting a target for “dependable output” from wind and solar could help to entrench their role as a provider of “energy security”, according to analysts.
The government also aims to boost renewables consumption by developing non-power uses of renewable energy, in sectors such as steel and chemicals.
Below, Carbon Brief examines the key targets and policies outlined in the five-year plan and what they mean for China’s energy transition.
Five-year plans are key to China’s political system. An overarching plan, covering all socioeconomic issues of importance to policy leaders, is published at the beginning of each five-year cycle.
The plan for the 15th five-year period (2026-2030) was published in March 2026.
It includes what the government considers to be the most important targets and policy signals for climate and energy. For example, binding targets for carbon intensity, the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption and total energy production capacity.
Following this overarching document, five-year plans focused on specific sectors or themes are then published over the course of the five-year plan period.
This year, the government has already published several five-year plans related to energy and climate change. One covers the development of the “new-type” energy sector more broadly. Another wraps climate goals together with other environmental targets under the “Beautiful China” programme.
By contrast, the renewables five-year plan focuses specifically on the development of hydropower, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and wave energy.
It covers topics including capacity and generation targets, as well as efforts to increase integration and reliability of wind and solar. It also has policies to encourage “non-power use” of renewable energy and ways to strengthen innovation of clean-energy technologies.
What overarching renewables targets are in the plan?
China will aim to install 3,500 gigawatts (GW) of renewables capacity by 2030, according to the five-year plan.
Of this, 2,800GW will be wind and solar – a pledge reiterated from China’s action plan for peaking carbon emissions, which was released earlier this month.
The goal more than doubles a previous 2030 target for wind and solar to reach 1,200GW, which China met six years early.
As of June 2026, the country has installed just under 2,000GW of wind and solar capacity, as well as 454GW of hydropower. Biomass, geothermal and wave energy hold very small shares of the overall energy mix.
As such, China would need to build 160GW of wind and solar each year – and just under 220GW of renewable capacity in total – to meet the targets.
The country installed 277GW of new solar alone in 2024 – and 315GW in 2025.
China’s total installed capacity of renewable energy from 2016-2025, and its target for 2030. Source: National Energy Administration, Carbon Brief.
A key part of meeting the targets will be the development of large-scale clean-energy bases in China’s northern regions. These will generate power to be exported elsewhere via ultra-high voltage lines. The plan also encourages greater “local consumption” and installations of distributed energy (see below).
The plan says that further research will be directed at increasing the renewable share of electricity generated by these large-scale energy bases to 100%.
A recent report by the thinktank Global Energy Monitor (GEM) finds that output from these bases “continues to be paired with coal-fired generation in the name of balancing and system flexibility”. It says that currently, coal generates 42% of the power transmitted to the rest of the country from these bases.
China will also add more hydropower, says the plan, with capacity rising from 448GW in 2025 to 570GW in 2030. Some 160GW of this will be pumped-storage hydropower.
Meanwhile, the plan sets a target for renewable power generation to reach 6,000 terawatt-hours (TWh), 4,000TWh of which would come from wind and solar.
This would be a 50% increase in five years as renewables generated just under 4,000TWh of electricity in 2025, according to the National Energy Administration.
By 2030, the plan says that total consumption of renewable energy will stand at 1.8bn tonnes of coal equivalent (Gtce).
This would be up from 1.2Gtce in 2025, which represented about one-fifth of China’s total energy consumption of 6.2Gtce that year.
The renewable targets in the plan are lower than those suggested in a recent study by high-profile Chinese scholars.
The study, from the department of energy and power engineering and the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University in Beijing, assessed the “likelihood of China attaining its carbon peak” under different pathways.
It found that, in order to meet its climate commitments, China would need to either install more than 4,000GW of “non-fossil energy capacity” before 2030, or to “maintain a total energy consumption” below 6.5Gtce.
The table below outlines some of the key renewables targets for 2030, as specified in the plan.
Key targets for 2030, adapted from 15th five-year plan for renewable energy
Type
2025
2030
Percentage change
Renewable energy use
1.2Gtce
1.8Gtce
53%
Total renewables capacity
2,340GW
3,500GW
50%
Wind and solar capacity
1,840GW
More than 2,800GW
52%
Of which: Solar thermal
1.8GW
15GW
733%
Hydro capacity
450GW
570GW
27%
Of which: Pumped storage hydropower
66GW
160GW
142%
Wave energy
–
0.4GW
–
Renewable generation
4,000TWh
6,000TWh
50%
Of which: Wind and solar
2,300TWh
4,000TWh
74%
Non-electricity use
60Mtce
150Mtce
150%
Renewable hydrogen
0.25Mt
2Mt
700%
Why does the plan focus on ‘firm capacity’ for renewables?
As well as increasing the overall size of China’s renewable power supply, the country must also maintain an “uninterrupted and reliable power supply”, officials from the NDRC and NEA told state news agency Xinhua in coverage of the new plan.
To support this goal, the plan says that the development of renewables will “enter a new stage”. This will mean that “improving quality and serving as a reliable alternative” to fossil fuels will be as important as “expanding scale”.
The plan, therefore, proposes targets for the “firm capacity” from wind and solar (置信出力). This is the amount plants or grids can be relied on to produce during critical supply periods, in conjunction with on-site storage.
The target for wind is a firm capacity of at least 11% of total installed capacity by 2030, while the equivalent goal for solar is 6%.
Wind and solar will also be expected to supply more than 20% of total demand in peak periods during the summer and winter evenings, says the plan. It expects “reliable peak-shaving capacity from renewable sources” to reach more than 300GW.
The new targets are a “positive move”, says Yao Zhe, global policy advisor at Greenpeace East Asia, as it “only applies during peak load and critical supply periods, when coal power is typically used to stabilise the power supply”.
She adds that this could, theoretically, “prevent the construction of new coal-fired power projects that are proposed and approved for the reason of meeting peak demand”.
The new metrics mark a change in focus, says Lyu Wenbin, director general of the Energy Research Institute – a state thinktank under the NDRC – in an “explanatory reading” posted on BJX News. He says it “marks a shift in renewable energy development from the mere pursuit of installed capacity to…also taking into account system support capabilities”.
The plan pledges to “accelerate the construction of grid-friendly wind and solar power stations”. It says this will enhance “reliable peak-load generation” and strengthen renewables’ ability to ensure “safe and stable operation” of the grid.
It says this will particularly be a focus in the energy-hungry east, central and south areas of China.
It sets out a slightly different focus for areas that already have a high share of renewables in their power mix, such as north-west China. Here, the aim will be to develop wind and solar parks that are “capable of providing voltage, frequency and inertia support”.
“This is a real challenge”, says James Norman, research analyst at GEM. He says these challenges are particularly acute in some circumstances:
“[For example], when the share of wind and solar is very high, relatively few synchronous generators (like coal) are online or large volumes of electricity are being transferred through high voltage DC lines.”
The plan mentions many technological solutions to address the problem, he tells Carbon Brief. However, he adds, there are no quantitative details for the issue. For example, he notes there is no target for “how many gigawatts of wind and solar must gain grid-forming capability”. This is in contrast to the goals for overall renewables capacity or generation.
Norman was a co-author on the recent GEM report, which identified further barriers to renewable uptake. It said these include transmission bottlenecks, alongside systemic features such as dispatching and power-contract mechanisms.
As a result, said the report, renewable power – especially solar – is increasingly being “curtailed”, particularly in north-western and northern provinces.
Yao also notes that the plan does not “spell out specific measures to address systemic constraints” around the electricity grid and the role of coal in the power sector.
“I interpret this as evidence that the vested interests are still strong in the policy debate,” she adds.
What does the plan say about ‘distributed’ energy?
Alongside gigawatt-scale clean-energy megabases, China also aims to expand construction of “distributed” energy. This means smaller-scale installations, such as rooftop solar.
More than 300GW of “distributed new energy” is to be added over 2026-30, some 60GW per year.
The plan aims for distributed new energy to be adopted in sectors such as industry, transport, buildings and agriculture.
Applications include the use of distributed solar and wind in industrial parks, coal mines and oilfields, as well as encouraging residents to install solar panels on buildings and developing rural clean-energy grids.
In some regions, distributed solar and wind is “likely to meet a large proportion of local demand”, says Prof Pan Jiahua at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). He tells Carbon Brief that micro- and mini-grids using such resources will be particularly important in central and coastal China.
The 60GW annual target for new distributed energy is not “overly ambitious”, says Isadora Wang, head of China at the thinktank Transition Asia. She tells Carbon Brief that distributed solar additions, alone, exceeded 100GW in both 2024 and 2025.
Cosimo Ries, analyst at the consultancy Trivium China, agrees that the target is reachable. The biggest question mark, he tells Carbon Brief, is whether it will continue to make sense for industry and utilities to build distributed power at the volumes seen during the 14th five-year plan period.
He adds that market conditions for distributed solar have deteriorated sharply over the past two years. He says a range of factors have hit investor confidence:
“[Distributed solar faces] growing exposure to market trading, worsening returns in spot markets, growing risks of curtailment and new policies limiting or forbidding the selling of power back to the grid.”
What does the plan say about non-electricity use of renewables?
The plan also sets goals for renewable energy’s role in “non-electricity use”.
This means using renewable energy for purposes other than generating electricity, through converting it to other forms, such as heat or mechanical energy.
The government is aiming for non-power use to nearly triple from 60m tonnes of coal equivalent (Mtce) in 2025 to 150Mtce in 2030.
Ries tells Carbon Brief that he thinks this target is “one of the main highlights” of the plan. However, he notes that limited available data means it is hard to assess the level of its ambition. He adds that, given the relative conservatism of China’s other recent clean-energy targets, this one may also be met relatively easily.
Key applications for non-power use of renewables include “green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol”, says the plan. It also points to using wind and solar for heat, as well as to biomass and geothermal for heating and cooling.
Green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol are the “centrepiece” of the non-power push, according to state-owned newspaper Economic Information Daily.
For hydrogen alone, China plans to scale up renewable hydrogen production to 2m tonnes in 2030, up from 250,000 tonnes in 2025.
Today, non-power use of renewables accounts for only around 1% of China’s total energy consumption, NEA and NDRC officials said in a Q&A. They added that there is “considerable room for growth” in sectors such as industry, transport and buildings.
Potential new applications include the use of wind and solar for heat. This could see the use of centralised wind and solar heating stations in the chemicals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, papermaking and food sectors.
New projects in the steel and cement sectors should use locally-generated wind and solar to power electric-arc furnaces and kilns, adds the plan.
Wang tells Carbon Brief that she believes the naming of individual sectors is a “clear indication” that they will be included in China’s renewable consumption quotas. These already cover aluminium and other heavy industry sectors.
She adds that power and heat demand from the named sectors may help absorb distributed renewable energy. It will also serve as a testing ground for matching demand with supply through increased grid flexibility and power price reforms.
To Ries, the growing focus on non-power use signals that China’s decarbonisation efforts are “now entering deeper waters”. That means regulators are turning from easier-to-abate sectors, such as aluminium, to more challenging industries, such as steel.
The plan could create a “second growth curve” for the new-energy industry, says He Zhao, in a commentary for China Power News Net. He, the vice-president of the China Electric Power Planning and Engineering Institute (EPPEI). says this might begin with non-power use, before shifting to fuel, feedstock and heat substitution.
What does the plan say about China’s cleantech dominance?
The next five years is a prime opportunity for China to “consolidate our leading position across the entire industrial chain” for clean-energy technologies, says the plan.
It adds that the government will “strengthen technological innovation” and accelerate the roll-out of new applications of artificial intelligence in China’s renewable-energy system.
A particular focus for new R&D will be “cutting-edge, original and disruptive technologies”. It also points to technologies that “enhance the reliability of renewable energy” as a substitute for fossil fuels.
The plan names technologies for further development. For wind power, these include “reliable and low-cost” blades, ultra-tall towers and new types of floating platforms. It also mentions the development of “high-altitude wind power”. For solar, it points to the development of perovskite and other “high efficiency” solar cells, as well as space-solar technologies.
The plan also pledges to develop a power market that supports the “full entry” of renewable-energy companies. It underscores that companies should plan for an increasingly market-based and competitive environment.
Meanwhile, the government will also deepen cooperation with other countries on clean energy and “advance” global climate cooperation, it says.
A priority will be “strengthening” international coordination on investment and development in “green energy projects”. Another is “actively promoting the free circulation of China’s high-quality green technologies and products in global markets”.
Chinese exports of clean-energy technologies have been surging, especially since the closure of the strait of Hormuz.
At the same time, Chinese investment in clean-energy projects in Belt and Road Initiative member states totalled $20bn in the first half of 2026. This is also driven by the crisis.
The US, EU and others have launched tariffs and pricing mechanisms to curb imports of Chinese cleantech. This has contributed to pushback from China, against what it and others refer to as “unilateral trade measures”.
China is transitioning from a “major energy nation” (能源大国) to an “energy powerhouse” (能源强国), writes the Energy Research Institute’s Lyu in his explanatory reading. He says this will enable China to increasingly shift to building “systemic” advantages in developing clean-energy technologies.
He continues that, from 2026-2030, China will “move to the very forefront of the global stage” on clean energy, “venturing into uncharted territory”. This will create both “major new challenges and significant opportunities” for the country, he adds.
Interview: Dr Sun Yixian on his new database tracking Chinese climate ‘leadership’
SYDNEY/KINGSTON, Wednesday 29 July — The future of deep sea mining will be a focus for world leaders this week as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Assembly takes place in Kingston, Jamaica.
Country delegates and members from Pacific Civil Society have come together to discuss a deep sea mining code, while the call for a moratorium grows. It follows the ISA’s contentious decision last week to extend The Metals Company subsidiary Nauru Ocean Resources Inc’s (NORI) exploration contract, despite its support for the pursuit of unlawful deep sea mining via US unilateralism.
The Assembly’s agenda was agreed to yesterday, with a science item put forward by Vanuatu to be heard on Thursday local time. Overnight, Mozambique and Mauritius joined the call for a global moratorium.
Rae Bainteiti, Pacific Political Coordinator at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said from the ISA in Kingston:
“As we move into the General Assembly this week, the fundamental issue remains that there is not enough science to guarantee the safety and protection of the ocean in a world where deep sea mining is allowed. As trustees of the ocean, the common heritage of humankind, our Pacific governments must stand firm against corporate interests that are pushing to move ahead with deep-sea mining outside the ISA framework. If deep sea mining goes ahead, Pacific communities will suffer the economic, cultural and social consequences. We continue to call on all States to support a moratorium as the principled and responsible pathway to protect the ocean.”
Currently, 45 countries, including seven Pacific nations, support a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep sea mining. Last week, Australia’s Labor National Conference committed to supporting a moratorium, but the government has yet to make an official comment.
More of Germany’s electricity came from wind and solar power than fossil fuels for the first time ever in 2025.
Together, wind and solar power generated 225 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity – accounting for 44% of the total in 2025 – with just 217TWh (43%) coming from fossil fuels.
Solar and onshore wind have grown rapidly under Germany’s “Energiewende” strategy over the past two decades, as the nation transitions away from both coal and nuclear power.
Renewables have recently faced mounting opposition from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the current coalition government has been trying to develop new gas-power plants.
Nevertheless, Carbon Brief analysis of Energy Institute data – shown in the chart below – illustrates how wind and solar have continued growing, emerging as the nation’s largest power source.
The success of renewables in Germany mirrors the EU as a whole, which also saw wind and solar overtake fossil-fuel power generation in 2025 for the first time.
“Other renewables” includes hydropower, bioenergy, geothermal and other renewable sources not otherwise stated. Source: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, 2026.
Germany has various targets in place that require a rapid expansion of wind and solar power, including cutting economy-wide emissions to net-zero by 2045.
The nation is also aiming to increase renewables’ share of electricity consumption to 80% by 2030 to achieve a “largely climate neutral” power system by 2035. It aims to decarbonise its electricity entirely once coal power has been phased out, which has a deadline of “no later than” 2038.
(The renewables targets also include electricity generated from hydropower and bioenergy. The latter produces a relatively large share of Germany’s power – roughly a tenth in 2025.)
Germany has to rely on renewables more than neighbours, such as France and the UK, to achieve its climate goals. This is due to its phaseout of nuclear power, which is a key part of the “Energiewende” strategy.
Nuclear power has long faced widespread public opposition in Germany. This year, the centre-right chancellor Friedrich Merz described the nuclear phaseout as a “strategic mistake”, but the government has ruled out a return to conventional nuclear power.
The country has an official coal phaseout date of 2038, but experts say the country is on track to eliminate coal from its power supply years earlier. This is despite some pressure to temporarily slow the transition away from coal during the recent energy crisis.
(Very few outside the AfD are calling to scrap the coal phaseout altogether, but the government will publish a review of the timelines in August.)
While coal generation has fallen quickly, even as nuclear was being phased out, some argue that coal could have been cut more quickly if nuclear had remained.
Gas-power expansion has also been framed by the government in recent years as an essential component of Germany’s transition away from coal and nuclear power, to support a renewables-heavy grid.
The current government under Merz has tried to boost gas and recently adopted a law to provide state support for new gas-fired power plants. The plan is for these plants to be converted to run on “green hydrogen” by 2045, in order to meet the climate-neutrality goal.
Germany aims to install 115 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind by 2030 and approved a record 20.8GW of new capacity in 2025.
Meanwhile, solar generation has reached unprecedented levels during the hot summer of 2026.
However, the government’s planned grid reforms have been criticised by the renewables industry for risking slowing down the energy transition. Under the proposals, renewables developers would only be granted automatic grid connections in areas with limited grid capacity if they waive compensation for future curtailed generation.
Interview: COP31 president says electrification is ‘surest way to protect citizens’
