Climate Mitigation +
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Energy Transition
SPS Climate
Research on the development of economic, energy, and carbon emission models, and identification of energy transition pathways for China through multi-scenario analysis. Providing a reference for energy transition targets for China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period.
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Research on China’s green energy transition, focusing on large-scale wind and solar, next-generation grids, and energy storage. Exploration of policy, technical, and financial measures for the high integration of renewables while ensuring energy stability and affordability.
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Research on the technical characteristics of the green transition across high-carbon industries (e.g., cement, steel, and other sectors), as well as technological innovation challenges for businesses during their transformation processes.
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Research on China’s Coal Triangle region’s energy transition goals, policies, and roadmaps. Regional carbon emissions are expected to peak between 2026 and 2029, with coal production peaking in 2026/2027. Output will then decline slowly for 3–4 years (1%–2% annually), before accelerating to 4%–5% annually from 2030 to 2040. By 2060, remaining coal production is projected at around 680 million tonnes, serving mainly as strategic reserves, critical energy backup, and to safeguard national energy security and key industries.
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Research on trends in the global green transition, including a new China–Indonesia energy transition cooperation model.
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Research on potential environmental and resource issues during the energy transition, such as methane emissions from abandoned coal mines and the environmental impact of the modern coal chemical industry.
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Renewables
SPS Climate
Assessment of the scale of renewable energy in China and the development potential of the wind and solar industries. Providing a reference for formulating renewable energy development policies for the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
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Analysis of global and domestic trends on wind and solar—both on policy and innovations—including technology maturity, cost, scaling, emerging applications, and recycling.
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Analysis of the Coal Triangle region’s significant potential for wind and solar power development, which offers strong opportunities for energy substitution. By 2030, the total installed capacity of wind and solar power in the Coal Triangle region is expected to reach 590 GW, and by 2060, it will surge to 2,180 GW, highlighting the region’s central role and vast potential in driving the national energy transition.
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Research on bottlenecks in international renewable energy project development and proposal for China to set up a project feasibility facility for renewable energy projects.
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Research on potential resources and environmental issues in the life cycle of renewable energy projects, such as land resource conflicts.
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Trade and Investment
SPS Climate
Research on how investment and reduction of trade barriers can accelerate the low-carbon transition and adoption of green technologies, as well as impacts on economic development, supply chain security, and climate action under different trade scenarios.
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Research on the effects of green trade policies on renewable supply chains; China’s position as an exporter, including its resilience strategies in a volatile geopolitical landscape; and investment in inter-regional grid links and energy storage systems.
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Research on how zero-carbon trade zones can function as a strategic step to break green trade barriers and drive green industrial transitions in high-carbon regions. The Coal Triangle, an energy-intensive production hub, significantly influences the life-cycle carbon footprint of products across China.
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Analysis of the greening of global value chains, including efforts to make China–Brazil agricultural value chains more sustainable.
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Finance
SPS Climate
Proposing a vision for reform of the international financial architecture to accelerate a global, inclusive green transition, including clarifying China’s role in this process and providing financing solutions for the sustainable development of developing countries.
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Assessment of green finance tools for renewables, such as bonds, carbon revenue pledges, and climate funds. Review of China’s shift from a subsidy-driven to a market-driven financing model across green project life cycles.
SPS Green Finance
Research on challenges for banks in supporting the transition of high-carbon industries, including regulatory restrictions on high-pollution, energy-intensive, and overcapacity industries, as well as banks’ inherent low-risk approach to lending. Analysis of non-performing debts, equities, and physical assets generated during the transition of high-carbon businesses, and how financial institutions can assist these enterprises through services such as debt restructuring and equity swaps.
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Assessment of how a national green development fund that combines policy guidance with market-driven operations can mobilize private capital and pool diverse resources for the energy transition. The Coal Triangle region’s energy transition over the next 5 years requires billions of USD in funding.
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Research on opportunities and challenges of green finance, and ways to reform multilateral financing to boost green development.
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Technology
SPS Climate
Analysis of the development of low-carbon technologies, including estimating future cost trends, identifying potential bottlenecks in their development, and proposing policy recommendations to stimulate technological innovation.
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Analysis of breakthrough technologies like deep-sea wind, floating solar, thin perovskite solar cells, smart grids, and integrated wind–solar storage. Exploration of artificial intelligence-driven energy operation and maintenance, grid-forming, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
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Exploration of how a new industrial transition strategy anchored by the “Three New Developments” drive—including new power system construction, end-use electrification and hydrogen adoption, and carbon removal industry development—can accelerate decarbonization and stimulate green growth.
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Analysis of major advances in green industries and technologies, and how they can contribute to global sustainable development efforts.
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Just Transition
SPS Climate
Research on new international cooperation models that can share the Chinese experience of low-carbon development with developing countries. Research on how deepened South–South cooperation can offer solutions to balancing economic development, energy access, and emission reductions, as well as provide constructive contributions to the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30). Exploring ways to promote gender equality in global climate governance and green transition practice.
SPS Technology Innovation
Exploration of gender equality and workforce inclusion in renewable energy projects, including targeted training, women’s roles, and financing criteria. Analysis of social and equitable benefits of the transition.
SPS Green Finance
Research on how financial instruments, digital tools, and fiscal measures can be leveraged to safeguard employment and ensure stable regional economic development during green transitions of high-carbon sectors.
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Research on how a proactive industrial transformation strategy can ease employment pressures. This is critical as the Coal Triangle’s energy transition may lead to a sharp decline in coal-related jobs, with limited short-term absorption by emerging industries. Such a strategy should fully integrate gender equality and the meaningful participation of underrepresented groups, ensuring a genuine, high-quality transition.
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Research on just transition practices in an international cooperation context, including within the China–Brazil partnership.
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Field Visits
SPS Climate
Field visit to Chongqing, China, in April 2025 to explore domestic examples of the ongoing low-carbon transition. A second field visit to Yantai, Shandong Province, China, in June 2025 to learn about its zero-carbon island project, including visits to key businesses to learn about their clean energy technology research, product innovation, and market expansion.
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Field visits to California in May 2025 and Beijing in June 2025 for exchanges on renewable integration and energy storage. Key insights from these trips are incorporated into the SPS report.
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Several rounds of field visits between April and June 2025, including to steel and hydrogen companies in Lvliang, Shanxi province, China, and a visit to traditional coal industry areas in Poland, Spain, and Germany to exchange international best practices on transition policy.
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Field visit to Malaysia in August 2025 to study local green transition experiences and explore potential for increased China–Malaysia cooperation on the energy transition.
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Field visits to traditional energy bases in northwestern China, including Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi Province, to explore energy transition progress, challenges, and plans with local policy-makers, experts, and businesses.
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