At China’s most important political meeting of the year its leaders reiterated the role of energy transition and clean energy technologies in driving long-term economic growth, at a time when trade and manufacturing activity is faltering.
The political messaging around energy transition at the “Two Sessions” gathering held in Beijing last week overshadowed other conventional issues such as national security, economic stimulus, social welfare, provincial real estate crisis and sectoral reforms.
China set a relatively modest GDP growth target of “around 5%” for 2024, slower than 5.2% for 2023, signaling slower growth for traditional energy and commodities markets. But leaders singled out new manufacturing industries including electric vehicles, battery manufacturing and solar photovoltaic products, and called for expanding EV charging infrastructure, power transmission for renewable penetration, new fuels and energy…
