China intends to develop 450 GW of solar and wind capacity on the Gobi Desert and other desert regions. Around 100 GW of solar projects are currently under construction in the desert area. In addition, the country plans to introduce new incentives to cut pollution and carbon emissions, including by marking coal use cleaner and more efficient, updating coal-fired power plants to make them more efficient, and enhancing the capacity of power grids to absorb renewable power generation. However, China also aims at boosting output of coal mines and enhancing coal reserve capacity, with an increase of government-deployable storage to 5% of local consumption.
In October 2021, China updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), pledging to bring its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1,200 GW by 2030. At the end of 2020, China had nearly 282 GW of installed wind capacity, and over 253 GW of solar capacity.