China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell 0.3% in 2025, reports Bloomberg. This is the first annual decline since Covid-era restrictions in 2022 and a reduction that’s happened even as energy demand growth remains strong.
The drop, outlined in an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air for Carbon Brief, was driven by a fall in emissions across nearly all major sectors including power, where demand for renewables drove down coal consumption despite the continued build-out of thermal power stations.
Last year, China for the first time covered all of its additional power demand growth with carbon-free sources and added enough energy storage capacity to account for the increase in peak demand, said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst for CREA. That’s created more options to avoid blackouts without resorting to fossil fuels, he said.