Beijing – China Electricity Council on September 22 released the “China’s Electrical Development Annual Report 2026”, finding that China has been a primary global driver of electrification accounting for 80% of the global increase in electrification rates since 2015, and that China’s electrification rate reached around 29.5% in 2025. Electrification targets will be a major outcome of climate negotiations at COP31, where some governments are pushing for a 35% electrification by 2035 target. 

Greenpeace East Asia Beijing-based Deputy Program Director Liu Junyan said: 

“China’s total impact on the global transition towards electrification is only beginning. The core of impact since 2015 here has been China’s own domestic electrification. But China’s increased export of clean tech like batteries and electric vehicles along with solar components are a major driver in electrification globally. This is also reaching a tipping point as Chinese clean tech enterprises increasingly go overseas to set up manufacturing and value chains, not just export. China in many ways is engineering global electrification. But this transition is also one where China shifts into a more rule-making role internationally. And Chinese solar, battery, and electric vehicle enterprises going abroad critically must be vectors for strengthening environmental regulation, just transitions, and the social co-benefits of these technologies’ deployment. Regulation of these industries is strengthening in China. As Chinese companies invest overseas, and access markets and resources, they need to create the same or even stronger protections for communities and ecosystems abroad. Electrification will be a core focus in the discussions at COP31, and China’s work will be on two levels. Domestically, China needs to make progress in phasing out fossil fuels so wind and solar realize the true benefits of this electrification groundwork now in place. Internationally, China will need to actively support other countries, especially in the Global South, to realize electrification goals.”

ENDS

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