China’s oil consumption projected to peak in 2025, boosting inclusivity in global green, low

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By Shan Jie, Zhao Juecheng, Ni Hao, Li Xundian (Global Times) 08:30, March 26, 2025

On December 25, 1997, alongside the express road in Yumen city, Northwest China's Gansu Province, four 300-kilowatt wind turbines imported from Denmark began to slowly turn their blades.

This wind power test site marked the beginning of Gansu's renewable energy development. Due to their white color and petite size, these four turbines were affectionately dubbed the "Four Little Swans" by locals.

27 years later, travelers driving through Yumen city are often astonished by a different sight: Dense rows of wind turbines on both sides of the highway have formed vast white "wind turbine forests," stretching across the Gobi Desert into the distance. Today, locals call this massive wind power cluster the "Onshore Three Gorges."

Once upon a time, the Yumen Oilfield was the cradle of China's petroleum industry. In the decade before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Yumen Oilfield's cumulative crude oil production accounted for 95 percent of the national total, according to a report by the China Petroleum Daily.

Since the first oil flowed from Well No. 1 at the Laojunmiao site in the Yumen Oilfield in August 1939, 85 years have passed. Today, the Yumen Oilfield has evolved into a new development model integrating oil, gas, electricity, and hydrogen.

"This transformation is a microcosm of China's green and low-carbon energy transition," Wei Fulei, director of the Centre for Finance, Trade, and Industrial Development under the China Development Institute, told the Global Times.

Wei, a long-time observer of low-carbon economics, noted that China has become a global leader in energy transition and a pioneer in renewable energy technology innovation.

According to the 2024 Report on Oil and Gas Industry Development released by the CNPC Economics &Technology Research Institute in February 2025, China's oil consumption is projected to peak in 2025.

China's accelerated deployment of a sustainable and renewable energy ecosystem is expected to significantly stabilize the global energy supply chain and contribute to climate change mitigation efforts, according to the report.

In the eyes of Han Wenke, former director of the Energy Research Institute under China's National Development and Reform Commission, China has charted an effective green energy transition path suited to its national conditions - one of the most significant achievements in the country's low-carbon energy journey.

"China's resolve in its green energy transition is 'unshakable,' its policies are consistent, and its actions are increasingly forceful. It's a resolute and fearless march forward," Han told the Global Times.

Policy-led emission reduction

As global temperatures continue to set new records, addressing climate change has become a worldwide consensus, making the transition to green and low-carbon energy an inevitable path. But why has China emerged as a global leader in renewable energy?

An article published in 2024 by Yale University's School of the Environment sought to answer this question, identifying a key factor: The strong push from government policy.

"China's planners were looking for investments that would create an opportunity for a more advanced technological future, and this coincided with the need to clean up China's environment and the global effort to cut emissions," read the article.

Years ago, China began strategically planning its energy transition across policy, technology, industry, and consumption, consistently advancing its green transformation.

This has culminated in today's impressive achievements: The world's largest carbon market and clean power generation system.

China has committed to the dual carbon goals of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Since 2016, control over both the total amount and intensity of energy consumption has become a binding requirement for economic and social development initiatives by local governments in the country, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

To achieve these goals, many companies, including petrochemical enterprises, are making concerted efforts.

For the Sinopec Jinan Company (formerly Jinan Refinery) in Jinan, Shandong Province in East China, achieving green production has become a major mission.

Established in 1971, the factory was originally located in the suburban industrial zone of Shandong's capital city. However, since the start of this century, Jinan's urban expansion has absorbed the refinery into the city proper.

In 2018, Sinopec - China's petrochemical giant and the parent company of the Jinan Refinery - released a plan to build a green enterprise focused on "clean, efficient, low-carbon, and recycling" principles, accompanied by related measures.

The Sinopec Jinan Company has been conducting clean production audits, promote oil quality upgrades, and implement its green enterprise action plan. Some of its production bases and equipment are sourced from Sinopec, according to a statement from the Sinopec Jinan Company to the Global Times. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), the company invested nearly 1 billion yuan (about $138 million) in pollution control and emission reduction and prevention.