‘Massive and Strong’ China Needs to Become Massive and Green, Policy Adviser Says

China’s rapid manufacturing growth has caused severe environmental damage and left the country with an unsustainable rate of energy and resource usage—a problem threatening its long-term industrial strength and climate targets [para. 1]. Huang Qifan, executive deputy director at the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy and former Chongqing mayor, emphasized these issues at the Caixin Summer Summit in Shanghai, noting that such resource consumption could hamper the nation’s future [para. 2][para. 3].

The “Made in China 2025” program, launched in 2015, sought to upgrade China into a global high-tech manufacturing leader. The strategy featured 10 priority sectors, such as advanced IT, robotics, new energy vehicles (NEVs), aerospace, and biopharmaceuticals [para. 4]. Initially, China lagged behind other countries in these sectors, but within a decade captured global leadership in at least five, notably NEVs, shipbuilding, and high-speed rail, and achieved competitiveness or parity with advanced economies in several others [para. 5].

Concrete figures underline China’s dominance: its manufacturing value added (MVA) was already the world's largest in 2010, representing 18.2% of the global total compared to the US’s 17%. By 2023, China’s MVA share had soared to 28.8%, while the US remained at 17.6%—less than two-thirds of China’s figure [para. 6].

However, Huang warned that China’s manufacturing boom has often ignored environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. In 2024, the sector consumed 12.5 billion tons of mineral resources—50% of the world’s total [para. 7]. Recognizing these challenges, China in recent years has pursued greener growth. President Xi Jinping has set a target for China’s carbon emissions to peak by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060 [para. 8]. These ambitions are linked to a plan to shift toward “new quality productive forces”—innovation-driven productivity that breaks away from traditional, energy-intensive growth models [para. 9].

Transitioning away from fossil fuels and reducing energy and material consumption in manufacturing are essential to this change, according to Huang [para. 10]. He estimated that by cutting energy and material use by one-third by 2035, China could reach the global average for per-unit consumption, and by halving it by 2050, could attain levels seen in advanced economies [para. 11].

Huang outlined a five-pronged strategy to reach these targets: first, significantly cut raw material consumption, as China’s industrial system annually uses over 12 billion tons of minerals, including 4 billion tons of coal and 2 billion tons of iron ore [para. 12]. Second, improve energy efficiency, since China’s manufacturing consumes 50% more energy per GDP unit than the global average [para. 13]. Third, expand recycling and the circular economy—the end-of-life recycling rate for industrial goods is just 10% in China, versus 40-50% in rich countries; matching this could reduce global resource demand by a third [para. 14]. Fourth, re-engineer industrial processes, shifting the steelmaking sector from resource-intensive methods to scrap-based, electric arc furnace (EAF) production—a model successful in the US and Europe [para. 15][para. 16]. Fifth, pivot from fossil fuels to renewables and adopt carbon utilization technologies to convert CO2 into useful products, anchoring the new era of energy and productivity [para. 17].

This comprehensive approach, Huang argued, could ensure the sustainability of Chinese manufacturing without sacrificing its global prominence [para. 11][para. 17].