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Business of climate change
BusinessChina Business

China rolls out policies to promote green consumption in sectors ranging from food and clothing to transport and renewable energy

  • The policy was jointly published by seven government agencies including the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce
  • The plan seeks to stimulate green consumption while curbing waste and unreasonable consumption

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China has released policies to promote green consumption in a variety of sectors. Photo: EPA-EFE
Yujie Xue
China will implement reforms to promote low-carbon consumption spanning a range of sectors to balance economic growth and its goal to become carbon neutral, according to its latest policy.
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The policy, published jointly on Friday by seven government agencies including the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Ministry of Commerce, seeks to promote “green consumption”.

It calls for expanding the supply and consumption of green and low-carbon products and promoting the green transformation of the country’s consumption structure, to support the dual-carbon goals of peak carbon emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060. It laid out requirements in various sectors, such as food and clothing, residential, transport, tourism and renewable energy usage.

“In recent years, China has made positive progress in promoting green consumption, but its demand still needs further stimulation to be fully realised,” the regulators wrote in the plan. “Waste and unreasonable consumption still exists in some areas … and the supporting role of green consumption to higher-quality economic development needs to be further improved.”

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In food consumption, restaurants and delivery platforms have been told to curb food waste and promote responsible consumer behaviour. It seeks to accelerate recycling of clothing materials and promote usage of low-carbon textiles in manufacturing. For the housing sector, the plan encourages the use of low-carbon building materials, promotes recycling of building materials, and seeks to upgrade and renovate old communities to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.

The plan also encourages the use of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and gradual removal of restrictions on their purchase. It calls for speeding up the construction of NEV charging stations, energy storage, hydrogen refilling stations and other relevant infrastructure.
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