Drivers and trajectories of China’s renewable energy consumption

Renewable energy is significant for addressing climate change and energy security. This study focused on the drivers of China’s renewable energy consumption (REC) by an extended production-theoretical decomposition analysis and emphasized REC technical efficiency and technological change in 28 provinces during 1997–2017. We then projected China’s REC to 2030 based on nine scenarios using a Monte Carlo simulation approach and specifically considering the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy. The decomposition results showed that economic growth and population scale generally contributed to an increase in REC at national and provincial levels over the period while the overall technical efficiency and technological change in REC played limited roles in prompting REC nationally. The projection results indicated that the target that generates 50% of its electricity from renewable energy sources for China, could be achieved by 2030 if enough actions are taken to accelerate renewable energy development. Finally, we provided policy proposals that support our findings.