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Experts' View

is an objective consistent with the growth and irrelevant cost compared to the catastrophic effects
competitiveness of the European economy. Ursula of uncontrolled climate change.”
von der Leyen summarized Europe's climate policy China seems to share the outlook laid out by the
as follows: “We will help our economy become a President of the European Commission and the
global leader by moving first and moving faster. By assessments of the Making Mission Possible report.
showing the rest of the world how to be sustainable China's commitment faces a
and competitive, we can convince other countries to
move with us.” much more complex and difficult
It is a feasible but arduous challenge, as shown by technological and economic
the Impact Assessment on the 2030 Climate Target challenge than Europe's. China's
Plan carried out by the European Commission offices economy is still 85% dependent on fossil fuels, despite
on September 17, 2020. progress in the development of renewables and the
The report does not mince words. It identifies the replacement of coal in energy end uses.
many barriers and contradictions in the European At the same time, the impressive strides made
rules in force, starting from the Energy Taxation in the development of alternative technologies
Directive(ETD), which has not changed since 2003
and is considered obsolete. At the same time, the have made China the world's leading producer of
renewables and alternative technologies to coal and
report calls for appropriate rules and measures
to overcome regulatory and market barriers fossil fuels.
that slow down the implementation of already According to many analysts, this seeming
available and competitive low-carbon solutions contradiction explains China's choice.In this
or the development of innovative ones (advanced perspective, two main challenges and lines of
bio fuels; hydrogen; electronic fuels;carbon action should be considered which seem to point
out the path identified by China. The first challenge
62 capture, storage and reuse). According to the is to end China’s dependence on coal – a fossil
report,overcoming these barriers would free up
resources and make low-emission or zero-emission fuel that currently provides over 60% of the
solutions competitive. country’s electricity. Coal-fired power plants are
This perspective is shared by the Energy still under construction, albeit with highly efficient
Transitions Commission (ETC), “a coalition of global technologies.
leaders from across the energy landscape: energy To achieve decarbonization, the power plants
producers, energy-intensive industries, equipment under construction must have an average life of 30
providers, finance players and environmental NGOs” years,more or less the time needed to recover the
(which includes SNAM’s CEO Mario Alverà,) who investment costs. At the end, coal will have to be
published the report Making Mission Possible drawn used only in plants with carbon capture, storage and
up in collaboration with McKinsey& Company, reuse technology. In the meantime, last June the
Rocky Mountain Institute, Bloomberg NEF, and the National Development Reform Commission and six
International Energy Agency. other Chinese ministries adopted a decision for the
The report highlights the major changes in progressive shutting down of existing plants. The
technologies and the costs of alternatives to fossil decision requires the closure of obsolete plants and
fuels,which are now often cheaper than traditional of those with a capacity exceeding demand, and
technologies. mandates provinces to prioritize clean technologies
Assuming there are no regulatory and market and strengthen inter-provincial electricity
barriers,predictions suggest that by the end of the transmission, rather than green-light new coal-fired
decade,net-zero energy will be able to compete with plants.
fossil fuel energy. The second challenge is to increase electricity
According to the report, developed economies production from renewables and nuclear power to
can reach the decarbonization target by 2050, while replace coal.
emerging and developing economies can achieve The Institute of Energy, Environment and
the same goal by 2060. “Decarbonization will cost Economy,of Tsinghua University, working with
5% of global gross domestic product by 2050 – an the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable

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