China’s CO2 emissions have peaked or will in 2025, say 44% of experts in survey

Rows of photovoltaic panels on a hill in Pingjing village in Anqing, China. The country’s ‘new three’: solar panels, electric vehicles and batteries, have attracted huge levels of investment. Photograph: Costfoto/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Nearly half of experts surveyed by a climate thinktank believe China’s carbon dioxide emissions have already peaked, or will do so in 2025, reflecting increasing optimism about the country’s green transition at a time when it is being called on to take a leading position on global climate action.

According to a report published on Tuesday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a research organisation, 44% of climate experts from academia and industry believe that China’s CO₂ emissions will peak, at the latest, in 2025. In last year’s survey, only 21% of experts gave the same response.