Published

6 months ago

October 29, 2025

Alice Rush

China’s surging electric vehicles (EVs) ownership – now exceeding 25.5m – is opening the door to a new technology that can help to enhance the flexibility of electricity supply.

EVs connected via “vehicle-to-grid” (V2G) technology can function as “batteries on wheels” that charge and discharge according to the needs of the wider electricity system.

The idea of turning EVs into “power banks” has already sparked both business and political interest in China.

How can V2G help balance the grid?

V2G involves two-way electric charging that allows EVs to act as flexible power sources, which can potentially help with the electricity supply from the grid.

In China, EVs with bidirectional batteries, when plugged into V2G-capable charging stations, are able to sell their stored electricity back to the grid, once owners complete registration on WeChat.

The country is currently trialling the technology in nine “pilot cities”, including Shanghai, as well as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, where EV operators are able to sell electricity to the grid, according to a V2G policy announced in April.

The policy is the world’s first nationwide pilot that aims to roll out V2G at scale in major cities. Payments – either in cash or coupons – are provided to EV owners to offset their charging costs in industrial parks, ports, as well as malls and residential compounds.

This is, however, not the first top-level policy framework for V2G in China. In late 2023, the National Reform and Development Commission (NDRC) pledged to establish a system of V2G technical standards by 2025 and to test its potential.

Dr Muyi Yang, senior electricity analyst at thinktank Ember, tells Carbon Brief that the April policy sends a “signal that China’s energy transition is entering a deeper phase”.

He adds that this new policy marks a major step in integrating EVs with the power grid, considering that China is rapidly enlarging its renewable capacity. However, the country’s current grid system sometimes struggles to take in all of the electricity being generated.

“China’s wind and solar capacity is becoming too large for the current grid to handle,” Yang tells Carbon Brief. “With their [combined] capacity now exceeding that of coal power, the grid flexibility has become increasingly insufficient.”

A fleet of grid-connected EVs could help China achieve its broader plan to restructure its power sector towards a “new power system” that aims to be more flexible and responsive to power volatility, says Yang.

Equipped with V2G, EVs could charge up their batteries or sell stored electricity according to owners’ preferences and the overall needs of the power system.

This provides the means and potential for the grid to integrate renewable energy more flexibly, says Zhou Xiaohang, China clean-power project manager at the US-registered Natural Resource Defense Council in Beijing.

She tells Carbon Brief that, in the long run, V2G can help to address the curtailment issue for renewable energy, which is often referred to as the “Xiaona” problem in China.

What is the current state of V2G adoption?

Currently, V2G has not been widely deployed in China. The cost of V2G infrastructure installation remains high.

Zhou says the success of large-scale roll out of V2G depends on whether there are enough EVs equipped with the bidirectional batteries and able to be plugged into V2G-capable charging stations.

Data company China Automotive Technology and Research Centre says that the share of new car sales made up by “new-energy vehicles” (NEVs) – mostly EVs – is more than 40% in almost all nine pilot cities tapped to develop V2G.

Even though not all EVs support V2G, the large number of EVs on the road suggests strong potential to build it into a profitable commercial model.

Zhou says that since China “already [has] enough EVs on the road to make [V2G] possible”, there are “no major technical barriers to scale up V2G interaction”.

Meanwhile, popular car brands such as BYD and Nio have released new EV models with V2G features and many more are actively testing and preparing for two-way electric charging.

In a June podcast, Anders Hove, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, says carmakers are pushing for faster progress. He explains:

“My understanding is that the Chinese EV and battery makers are communicating with grid companies and power-sector regulators that the technology is now ready. They would like there to be additional regulations to enable this to start happening at scale.”

There are 30 such demonstration projects going on at the moment. The results of those projects will be collected by the NDRC and the National Energy Administration for evaluating future scaleup.

Shenzhen, for example, received more than 70,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity from about 2,500 EVs in June.

V2G services have the potential to become popular nationwide, says Yang, partly because it could also become a source of income for EV owners and businesses.

According to the Paper, a Shanghai-based news outlet, an EV owner could earn roughly 500 yuan ($70) in electricity charging vouchers by discharging 460kWh in a month.

In Shenzhen, a logistics company with 30 EVs is estimated to save up to 4,500 yuan ($631) a month by joining the V2G programme, says China Automotive News, a state-sponsored media outlet.

What are the challenges in expansion?

Regional governments are working to introduce more profitable pricing systems to boost user participation.

Guangdong province, in south China, has launched a V2G pricing plan that is “appealing” enough for EV owners to see a profit from participating in the scheme, according to Zhou, which will help drive wider adoption.

However, there will need to be a deeper level of power-sector reform for V2G to become fully commercialised, says Shen Xinyi, researcher at Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Currently, a large share of China’s electricity is still traded through long-term power contracts, which could limit incentives for individual EV owners to engage in power trading.

Shen tells Carbon Brief:

“Flexible systems like V2G and distributed solar power need a well-developed spot market and experienced, professional players such as power retailers to truly thrive…I think it still needs a lot of patience to see how theory turns into practice.”

It could take years before V2G reaches a significant level of adoption, due to the uncertainty of whether it can be turned into a viable business model, says Shen.

According to Zhou, whether V2G can be rolled out at scale also depends on the attitudes of consumers.

“The key to expanding V2G is getting users motivated and willing to take part,” she says, adding that more work needs to be done to address Chinese consumers’ concerns on battery health and safety issues, including whether frequent discharges could cause battery degradation.

According to the 2023 policy, the lifespan of EV batteries still needs to improve so it can handle frequent use without wearing out too quickly – a concern long noted by the industry.

In April 2024, Hui Dong, chief technical expert at the China Electric Power Research Institute, a research institute affiliated to the State Grid Corporation of China, stated that, in terms of lifespan, chemical energy storage systems, represented by lithium-ion batteries, are still “underperforming”.

The post Q&A: How ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology could boost China’s electricity system appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Q&A: How ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology could boost China’s electricity system

Climate Change

Rights of Nature Defender Wins Goldman Prize for Protecting Colombia’s Magdalena River From Fracking

Published

6 hours ago

April 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Yuvelis Morales Blanco, 24, helped halt fracking along Colombia’s largest river and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. She’s faced death threats and exile for her advocacy.

By Katie Surma

As a child growing up along the banks of Colombia’s Magdalena River, Yuvelis Morales Blanco learned to read the water.

Rights of Nature Defender Wins Goldman Prize for Protecting Colombia’s Magdalena River From Fracking

Climate Change

As a Plastic Waste Plant Violates Pollution Rules, Its Owner Makes the Case for a Second Location

Published

11 hours ago

April 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Freepoint Eco-Systems seeks to become a major player in so-called “chemical recycling.” Some residents and environmental advocates are fighting back.

By James Bruggers

Belching smoke from a new plastic waste processing plant in central Ohio has stirred opposition to an even larger “chemical recycling” factory planned for Arizona by the same company.

As a Plastic Waste Plant Violates Pollution Rules, Its Owner Makes the Case for a Second Location

Climate Change

Revealed: Scientists tell Colombia fossil-fuel transition summit to ‘halt new expansion’

Published

13 hours ago

April 20, 2026

Alice Rush

Countries attending a first-of-its-kind fossil-fuel summit have been asked to consider “action recommendations” such as “halting all new fossil-fuel expansion” and “reject[ing] gas as a bridging fuel”, according to a preliminary scientific report seen by Carbon Brief.

Around 50 nations will gather in Santa Marta, Colombia from 24-29 April to debate ways to “transition away” from fossil fuels, in the face of worsening climate change and sky-high oil prices.

The talks come after a large group of nations campaigned for, but ultimately failed, to get all countries to formally agree to a “roadmap” away from fossil fuels at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November.

The nations gathering in Santa Marta for the summit co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, call themselves the “coalition of the willing”.

Ahead of country officials arriving in Santa Marta, a global group of academics will gather in the city this week to present and discuss the latest scientific evidence on fossil-fuel phaseout, which will then inform debate among policymakers.

A preliminary scientific “synthesis report” circulated to governments attending the talks and seen by Carbon Brief offers 12 “action insights” for countries to consider, along with a wide range of “action recommendations”.

These recommendations range from “phase out subsidies on fossil-fuel production and consumption” to “kick-start a forum to develop a legal framework to ban fossil-fuel advertisements”.

‘Rapid’ assessment

The preliminary scientific report seen by Carbon Brief – titled, “Action insights for the Santa Marta process” – is the result of some rapid work by an “ad-hoc” group of around 24 scientists.

It is designed to present governments attending the talks with concrete and actionable recommendations for transitioning away from fossil fuels.

The preliminary version, which includes recommendations such as “halting all new fossil fuel expansion”, has already been circulated to governments, with a view that this could help them to prepare for the talks in advance.

It will be further debated and refined by scientists attending the academic segment of the Santa Marta talks, before a final version is made public towards the end of April, Carbon Brief understands.

The process to produce the report began shortly after the conclusion of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November, explains its lead author, Dr Friedrich Bohn, a research scientist and co-founder of the Earth Resilience Institute in Germany. He tells Carbon Brief:

“When [Brazil] announced there would be a Santa Marta conference led by Colombia and the Netherlands, I was sitting listening with a small group of scientists. We thought: ‘This is great news, but it should be supported by scientific expertise.’”

One of the members of Bohn’s group had a pre-existing relationship with the Colombian government, allowing a dialogue to quickly be established, he continues:

“In the beginning, the idea was to just write a peer-reviewed paper. But, because of this close connection to the Colombian government and some feedback from them, the synthesis paper evolved.”

The report came out of a “very rapidly evolved process” that relied on the “goodwill” and “enthusiasm” of the academics involved, adds coordinating author Prof Frank Jotzo, a professor of climate change economics at Australian National University. (Jotzo is a former Carbon Brief contributing editor.) He tells Carbon Brief:

“It’s an attempt to get broad coverage on relevant topics from researchers with good expertise and reputation.”

The group of 24 scientists involved spent around two months compiling the “action insights” for the report, drawing on their expertise and the latest available research, says Jotzo.

Given the rapid nature of the report, it does not aim to be “completist”, has not been externally reviewed and did not follow a stringent process for author selection comparable to that used by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, he adds.

The contributors to the report currently skew to the global north and include more men than women, adds Bohn.

‘Direct guidance’

In a departure from IPCC reports, the preliminary Santa Marta synthesis report offers “very direct guidance to action”, says Jotzo.

The report lists 12 “action insights”, each with three “action recommendations”. (The list was cut down from a shortlist of about 40-50 insights, Carbon Brief understands.)

One of the most striking in the draft is “action insight 5”, which says:

“Take immediate measures to prevent future emissions. Ban new fossil infrastructure, mandate deep methane cuts, accelerate electrification and inscribe fossil-fuel phase-down targets in NDCs [nationally determined contributions] and clean-energy pathways support to low and middle income countries (LMICs).”

The accompanying three “action recommendations” include “halting all new fossil-fuel extraction and infrastructure projects ahead of a final investment decision”, “implementing deep, legally binding methane cuts in the energy sector” and “inscrib[ing] targets for fossil-fuel phase down, electrification and green exports in NDCs”.

(The draft report includes multiple references to “phasing out” and “phasing down” fossil fuels, rather than the “transition away from fossil fuels” language that was, ultimately, agreed by countries at the COP28 UN climate talks in Dubai in 2023.)

Another action insight says “public support for climate action is broadly underestimated and undermined by interest groups, but it can be strengthened by debunking greenwashing narratives”.

One recommendation for this insight is that nations “reject natural gas as a bridging technology and CCS [carbon capture and storage] techniques as scalable compensation”.

In a letter introducing the report to governments and civil society, the scientists note that making direct recommendations is a “challenge for our community”, but added:

“However, in the spirit of a constructive collaboration between science and policymaking, we allowed ourselves to identify some potential courses of action that our community would recommend for each particular issue – and we invite you to weigh these against your own circumstances and pick up whatever seems most useful for you and your colleagues.”

The prescriptiveness of the recommendations – something strictly prohibited in IPCC reports – was an explicit request from the Colombian government, Bohn says:

“The idea of actionable recommendations was introduced by the Colombian government.

“There was some discussion within the team about this. It’s a tricky area when you leave science and move to consultation. Therefore, we agreed, in the end, to call them ‘actionable recommendations’ and to make them as precise as possible, from the scientific perspective.”

Jotzo, a veteran of the IPCC process, tells Carbon Brief that it was “very liberating” to work on a report with a “free-form process”:

“The bulk of policy-related research is very readily deployed to recommendations pointing out what countries could do. The IPCC process, for example, just doesn’t allow that. As far as the summary for policymakers in the IPCC is concerned, it will usually be governments that filter out anything that could be interpreted as a specific recommendation.”

He adds that the hope is that some of the action insights might be reflected in the high-level segment of the Santa Marta conference:

“No one is under any illusions that governments will walk away from the Santa Marta conference and will have made a decision to implement recommendations one, seven and nine – or something like that. But it is a chance to insert directly applicable action points into national and plurilateral policy agendas.”

Colombia calling

The preliminary report will be further debated and refined by scientists attending the “pre-academic segment” of the Santa Marta talks.

This is taking place from 24-26 April, ahead of the “high-level segment” involving ministers and other policymakers from 28-29 April.

The pre-academic segment will also separately see the launch of a new advisory panel on fossil-fuel transition and a scientifically led roadmap for how Colombia can transition away from fossil fuels, Carbon Brief understands.

The high-level segment is expected to be attended by representatives from around 50 countries, including COP31 host Turkey and major oil-and-gas producers such as the UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Norway.

Countries expected to attend account for one-third of global fossil-fuel demand and one-fifth of global production, according to the Colombian government.

At the end of the conference, countries are due to release a report featuring a “menu of solutions” for transitioning away from fossil fuels, according to Colombia’s environment minister Irene Vélez Torres.

This report is in turn set to inform a global “roadmap” on transitioning away from fossil fuels being developed by the Brazilian COP30 presidency, which is due to be presented at COP31 in Turkey this November.

The Brazilian COP30 presidency offered to bring forward a “voluntary” fossil-fuel transition “roadmap” outside of the official COP process, after countries failed to formally agree to one during negotiations in Belém.