RenewableEnergyPathwaystoCarbonNeutralityinChinaMay20231AuthorsZhenhuaZhang1,ZihengZhu2,JessicaA.Gordon3,XiLu4,DaZhang2,andMichaelR.Davidson1,51DepartmentofMechanicalandAerospaceEngineering,UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego2InstituteofEnergy,EnvironmentandEconomy,TsinghuaUniversity3California-ChinaClimateInstitute,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley4SchoolofEnvironmentandStateKeyJointLaboratoryofEnvironmentSimulationandPollutionControl,TsinghuaUniversity5SchoolofGlobalPolicyandStrategy,UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiegoAbouttheCalifornia-ChinaClimateInstitute:TheCalifornia-ChinaClimateInstitutewaslaunchedinSeptember2019andisaUniversityofCalifornia-wideinitiativehousedjointlyatUCBerkeley’sSchoolofLaw(throughitsCenterforLaw,Energy,andtheEnvironment)andtheRausserCollegeofNaturalResources.ItischairedbyJerryBrown,formerGovernoroftheStateofCalifornia,andvice-chairedbytheformerChairoftheCaliforniaAirResourcesBoardMaryNichols.TheInstitutealsoworkscloselywithotherUniversityofCaliforniacampuses,departments,andleaders.Throughjointresearch,training,anddialogueinandbetweenCaliforniaandChina,theInstituteinformspolicymakers,fosterscooperationandpartnership,anddrivesclimatesolutionsatalllevels.AboutthePowerTransformationLab:ThePowerTransformationLabattheUniversityofCalifornia,SanDiegostudiestheengineeringandinstitutionalrequirementstodeploylow-carbonenergyatscale.Weworkwithacademic,government,civilsociety,andindustrypartnerstoadvanceresearchandsolutionstotheclimatechallengecenteringontheroleofthepowergrid.Ourareasoffocusincluderenewableenergyresourceplanning,affordableandreliablelow-carbonpowermarkets,andthepoliticaleconomyofindustrialpolicyandlow-carbontransitionsinfirms.AbouttheInstituteofEnergy,EnvironmentandEconomy,TsinghuaUniversity(3E):TheInstituteofEnergy,EnvironmentandEconomy,TsinghuaUniversity(3E),establishedin1980,isaninterdisciplinaryresearchandeducationinstituteatTsinghuaUniversity.Theinstitute’smissionistocreate,developanddisseminatetheknowledge,ideas,andmethodologiescrucialforbuildingsustainableenergysystemsandmitigatingclimatechangeforChinaandtheworld.AsanimportantthinktankforChina’senergyandclimatechangeresearch,theinstitutehasbeencontinuouslyprovidingpolicyadvisoryservicestotheNationalDevelopmentandReformCommission(NDRC),theMinistryofEcologyandEnvironment(MEE),andtheNationalEnergyAdministration(NEA).Theinstitutehaslong-timecollaborationswithprestigiousuniversitiesandinternationalorganizations.Acknowledgments:TheauthorswouldliketothankChiGao(RegulatoryAssistanceProject)forprovidingresearchassistance,andthefollowingreviewersforhelpfulcomments:FredrichKahrl(California-ChinaClimateInstituteResearchAffiliate),BobWeisenmiller(California-ChinaClimateInstituteResearchAffiliate),JiangLin(LawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratoryNatSimonsPresidentialChairinChinaEnergyPolicyandUCBerkeleyAdjunctProfessor),HongyuZhang(TsinghuaUniversityPostdoctoralResearcher),RixinZhu(California-ChinaClimateInstituteMethaneFellow),andFanDai(California-ChinaClimateInstituteDirector).2TABLEOFCONTENTSSummaryforPolicymakers............................................................................................................................................31.Introduction.................................................................................................................................................