# Towards carbon neutrality and China's 14th Five-Year Plan: Clean energy transition, sustainable urban development, and investment priorities

“Towards carbon neutrality and China's 14th Five-Year Plan: Clean energy transition, sustainable urban development, and investment priorities” (2021), by Cameron J. Hepburn et al. Economics research paper. Original abstract below, unchanged. A free PDF is available.

- Authors: Cameron J. Hepburn, Ye Qi, Nicholas H. Stern, Bob Ward, Chunping Xie, Dimitri Zenghelis
- Published: October 1, 2021
- Field: Economics
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2021.100130
- Free PDF: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/113339/1/1_s2.0_S2666498421000545_main.pdf

## Abstract

China's 14th Five-Year Plan, for the period 2021-25, presents a real opportunity for China to link its long-term climate goals with its short-to medium-term social and economic development plans. China's recent commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 has set a clear direction for its economy, but requires ratcheting up ambition on its near-term climate policy. Against this background, this paper discusses major action areas for China's 14th Five-Year Plan after COVID-19, especially focusing on three aspects: the energy transition, a new type of sustainable urban development, and investment priorities. China's role in the world is now of a magnitude that makes its actions in the immediate future critical to how the world goes forward. This decade, 2021-2030, is of fundamental importance to human history. If society locks in dirty and high-carbon capital, it raises profound risks of irreversible damage to the world's climate. It is crucial for China to peak its emissions in the 14th Five-Year Plan (by 2025), making the transition earlier and cheaper, enhancing its international competitiveness in growing new markets and setting a strong example for the world. The benefits for China and the world as a whole could be immense.

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