China’s ambitious green targets at risk as local efforts lag

Green energy and infrastructure targets established at the highest levels of China’s government are failing to translate into real progress at the local level, says Greenpeace.

Shenzhen, China – Efforts to stimulate the Chinese economy since last year have failed to move the needle on the country’s decarbonisation targets as rhetoric from the highest levels of government fails to translate into meaningful progress at the local level, a report released this week by Greenpeace East Asia warns. The environmental activist group is urging Chinese authorities to deepen decarbonisation efforts at the local level if China is to meet its stated commitments for peaking greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2060. The Greenpeace East Asia report released on Monday in Beijing highlights the gap between the decarbonisation targets coming from China’s top leadership and the continued dirty-recovery reality at the local level, finding that only 15 percent of municipal bonds issued since the COVID-19 outbreak went to sustainable and low-carbon projects.