China CO2 Emissions Drop Despite 5% Economic Growth Rate

China’s carbon emissions fell by 1% in the first three months of 2025, even as the country’s economy grew by over 5% – a sign that massive state-led investment in green technologies is paying off. 

It is likely the country’s emissions fell by a total of 0.3% for the entire year, according to analysis from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an independent nonprofit. 

The figures, a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak global outlook, show that China is continuing a “flat or falling” trend in CO2 emissions that started in 2024.  

“That’s a big deal because it shows that economic growth and decarbonisation can go hand-in-hand,” said Leila Deen, CEO of Secure Energy Project. “This past year, China installed more solar capacity than the United States has in its entire history.”

Qi Qin, China analyst at CREA, said: “The old excuse – ‘why should we act when China isn’t?’ – no longer holds… the world’s largest emitter can meet rising energy demand without increasing pollution.”

“While the West debates the transition, China is building it, supported so far by high emissions,” she added. “That trajectory may now be at a turning point. Clean electricity is now the fastest-growing part of the global energy system.”

But she also warned that “progress is not automatic”, noting that China is still commissioning new coal plants while emissions continue to rise in certain sectors.

Some observers argue that China is better positioned to tackle the climate crisis than other countries that have accelerated neoliberal policies for decades. 

“China is making incredible strides in clean energy development and ecological regeneration, while the West is failing to do so,” author and political economist Jason Hickel wrote on social media last year.  

“Why? Because in China, industrial policy means investment can be directed toward what is most necessary; whereas in the West investment is directed toward what is most profitable to capital.”