BEIJING/SINGAPORE, Dec 17 (Reuters) – China’s total primary energy consumption is expected to peak around 2035, at 5.6 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent, under Beijing’s recently announced carbon-neutral goal, China National Petroleum Corp’s (CNPC) research arm said on Thursday.
China, the world’s largest energy consumer and most significant emitter of climate warming greenhouse gases, has vowed to bring its total carbon emissions to a peak before 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2060.
In its annual long-term energy outlook, the research arm of state energy firm CNPC also forecast China’s oil demand to be capped at 730 million tonnes by around 2025.
Natural gas, an essential bridge fuel over the next two decades with a 2.8% per annum demand increase, will peak around 2040 at 550 billion cubic meters, CNPC said.
Consumption of coal, currently accounting for 58% of China’s energy mix, will fall sharply from 2025, to 2.9 billion tonnes in 2035 and to 900 million tonnes in 2050, CNPC said.