The Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) carried out a survey of 26 Chinese energy sector analysts and experts.

It found that the country’s continued rise in energy consumption effectively cancelled out attempts to decarbonise its economy and energy infrastructure.

Resolving this issue requires a combination of increased energy efficiency measures, a shift in the economic growth model, or an even larger scale of clean energy investment, CREA said.

For non-CO2 greenhouse gases, there are no official quantitative targets or regular emissions reporting that would allow the assessment of trends or progress.

Nevertheless, the assessment also found that China was on track in areas such as clean energy investments, electrification, building sector emissions, and electric vehicle sales.

Its clean energy investments, in particular, have continued to grow rapidly and are approaching the scale projected in scenarios needed to keep the...