China to deepen green transition, expand clean energy consumption in coming five years: officials

China will step up efforts to advance a comprehensive green transformation during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) for national socioeconomic development, including implementing a dual-control system on carbon emissions and accelerating the development of a modern energy system, senior officials said at the China Development Forum 2026, which opened in Beijing on Sunday.

Themed "China in its 15th Five-Year Plan period: advancing high-quality development and creating new opportunities together", the two-day forum highlights China's role as a key engine of global development, as the country begins implementation of its 15th Five-Year Plan.

Addressing the forum, Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs and director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leadership Group, said the current global situation demonstrates the significance of increasing the share of new energy supply while fostering the substitution of fossil fuels.

"The current international landscape highlights that fossil fuels such as oil and gas often rely on imports and international transportation, whereas renewable energy sources like wind and solar are locally available and do not require such processes. We will accelerate the building of a new-type energy system, steadily raise the share of renewable energy supply, and promote safe, reliable and orderly substitution of fossil fuels, to facilitate the peaking of coal and oil consumption," Han said.

Also delivering a speech at the event, Wan Jinsong, deputy head of the National Energy Administration, said China will work to promote the development of diverse clean energy sources, including wind power, photovoltaic energy, nuclear energy and biomass, while ensuring stable energy supply.

He noted that the country will foster a new energy system featuring multi-energy complementarity and strong resilience against risks.

At the same time, efforts will be made to advance in-depth integration of the energy revolution with the digital revolution.

"We should give full play to the role of artificial intelligence in enhancing the development of new energy, and keep enriching scenarios of application in the field of new energy, to facilitate large-scale and efficient consumption of renewable energy. At the same time, measures will be taken to promote integrated development of new energy and focus efforts on ensuring green energy supply for computing power, to enable renewable energy to better support the growth of AI," said Wan.

China to deepen green transition, expand clean energy consumption in coming five years: officials

China to deepen green transition, expand clean energy consumption in coming five years: officials

China to deepen green transition, expand clean energy consumption in coming five years: officials

China's first full-chain domestic solution-process polyolefin elastomers (POE) industrial device has entered trial operation in north China's Tianjin Municipality, according to China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), world's largest oil refiner and China's top aviation fuel producer, on Sunday. Sinopec said that the facility will help reduce China's reliance on imported materials and significantly ease the import dependence of strategic emerging industries such as photovoltaics on this key material.

Often referred to as "industrial gold", POE is a high-performance material that combines the processability of plastic with the high elasticity of rubber. It is an essential component in the manufacturing of photovoltaic (PV) modules, lightweight automotive parts and high-end packaging. "POE is known as 'industrial gold.' Our device adopts the solution-process POE technology and metallocene catalyst independently developed by us. At the same time, we adopted a domestic automatic control system, ensuring that all equipment in the production chain were made in China," said Wang Xiaowei, director of the Research Institute of Sinopec Tianjin Branch.

Driven by the photovoltaic and new energy vehicle industries, China's POE consumption increased from 640,000 tons in 2021 to 1.11 million tons in 2025, with an average compound annual growth rate of 14.7 percent, making it the world's largest POE consumer market.

Due to high technical barriers, China has long relied on imports for POE, with import dependency reaching 76 percent in 2025.

"After the plant goes into operation, our products can be used in strategic emerging industries, enabling the light transmittance of photovoltaic encapsulation films to reach 93.5 percent or higher. At the same time, they contribute to automotive lightweighting. After application, the products can reduce weight by more than 15 percent compared with traditional materials. Additionally, they can be used in lithium battery separator coatings and charging pile cable insulation layers, allowing us to better meet safety standards," said Wang.

China energy giant reports breakthrough in PV, EV material production