China Advances Energy-saving, Low-carbon Development

A report from Xinhua on Mar. 2nd, 2023:

China reduced energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2022 amid efforts to promote high-quality and green development, according to an official statistical communique published on Tuesday.

Last year, the country’s energy consumption per 10,000 yuan (about 1,438.46 U.S. dollars) of gross domestic product decreased by 0.1 percent from 2021, while CO2 emissions per 10,000 yuan of GDP fell 0.8 percent year on year, according to the communique released on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

China accelerated the green transformation of development while stabilizing the economy in 2022, witnessing the country’s ecological condition continuously improved and the formation of green and low-carbon production and life-styles sped up, said Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the NBS.

China has continued to advance the low-carbon transformation of energy consumption, seeing rapid growth of clean energy production and continuous expansion of non-fossil energy consumption, Sheng said.

Last year, the power generation of clean energy, such as hydro, wind, solar and nuclear energy, rose 8.5 percent year on year, while non-fossil energy consumption went up 0.8 percentage points to account for 17.5 percent of the country’s total power consumption.