China's Energy Technologies to 2050

The future course of China's CO2 emissions is of critical importance for climate change mitigation. These emissions have more than doubled since 2000 and, on business as usual assumptions, could represent nearly 30% of global emissions by 2050. This reflects China's status as the most populous nation on earth with a rapidly developing (largely coal-based) economy. As for other countries, climate change mitigation is only one of the objectives of China's energy policy. In addition to China's economic development objectives, energy security is a growing concern for China as its oil imports increase, and the health impacts of local air pollution remain a key political and economic issue. This Research Report examines the pathways through which China could reduce energy related CO2 emissions by 2050, to levels that would be broadly consistent with the global 2 degrees Celsius objective. It highlights the technologies that would be required, the barriers to their deployment, and the wider implications for China's energy policy.