The EU carbon tariff lands swiftly! Six major industries including steel, aluminum, and cement the first blow. China’s wind power installed capacity exceeds 600 GW
（2025/12/29—2025/1/4）
Author: Shu-Xin Zhang
International Energy News
1. The EU carbon tariff lands swiftly! Six major industries including steel, aluminum, and cement face the first blow
On January 1, 2026, the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) officially takes effect. This mechanism, accompanying products such as steel and aluminum entering EU ports, has become a “green threshold” that Chinese exporting enterprises must directly confront. The core of CBAM is the “carbon price difference” mechanism, which requires importers to purchase CBAM certificates based on the embedded carbon emissions of products, with its price anchored to the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) annual average price. Calculated using the approximate 2025 EU carbon price of 90 euros per ton and China's national carbon market average price of about 60 yuan per ton, the price difference is significant.
CBAM not only covers high-carbon industries like steel and aluminum but also plans to expand to approximately 180 downstream manufactured products starting in 2028, with impacts spreading to a broader range of manufacturing sectors. Facing this challenge, Chinese enterprises need to accelerate the construction of carbon accounting systems, promote low-carbon production processes, and actively use green electricity to reduce indirect emissions. In the short term, CBAM brings compliance costs and profit pressure; in the long run, it signifies a fundamental shift in global trade rules toward green and low-carbon practices. Whether carbon data can be transformed into assets and whether green productivity can meet the new rules will become key to determining whether enterprises can win a new round of "carbon dividends" in future EU and global markets.
2. Gazprom’s domestic natural gas deliveries approach historic highs
Recently, the CEO of Gazprom stated at a meeting reviewing preliminary annual performance that the company plans to supply 386 billion cubic meters of natural gas to domestic consumers through Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System in 2025, a volume approaching historical records. The company continues to set new records for natural gas supplies via Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System. By 2025, 386 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be supplied to consumers through its gas transmission system, nearly setting a new record for the total volume of natural gas supplied by the Unified Gas Supply System to Russian consumers.
3. Turkey plans major energy projects in 2026
Turkey recently announced its 2026 energy and mining vision, aiming to become an active international participant in this field. The country will vigorously promote solar power construction, including supporting industrial enterprises in installing solar panels and planning to complete a floating solar power facility with a capacity of nearly 3,000 MW, while also preparing to launch large-scale offshore wind power tenders. In the nuclear energy sector, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is expected to commence operation in 2026, having secured approximately $9 billion in new financing from Russia and with the potential to attract an additional $4 to $5 billion in foreign investment. The government also plans to establish an investment framework for small modular reactors (SMRs). In resource development, Turkey will commence construction of a rare earth element plant in Eskişehir’s Belikovac in 2026. The Sakarya Gas Field plans to double its production, which can meet domestic natural gas demand of approximately 7.5 billion cubic meters (equivalent to 8 million households), thereby reducing import expenditures by about $3.2 billion. Turkey also plans to establish a carbon trading center and market in 2026.
2026 is thus a critical implementation year for Turkey’s energy strategy. A series of initiatives, ranging from renewable energy, nuclear power, oil and gas resources, to rare earth processing and carbon market construction, demonstrate its determination to enhance energy autonomy, deepen industrial transformation, and integrate into the global green economy.
Domestic energy news
1. China’s wind power installed capacity exceeds 600 GW
On December 26, data released by the National Energy Administration showed that as of the end of November, the country’s total installed power generation capacity reached 3.79 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 17.1%. Among these, solar power installed capacity amounted to 1.16 billion kilowatts, up 41.9% year-on-year, while wind power installed capacity surpassed 600 GW, representing a growth of 22.4%.
The 600 GW capacity is equivalent to the combined capacity of over 26 Three Gorges Dam power stations. China’s wind power installed capacity has ranked first globally for 15 consecutive years. In 2025, the wind power industry continued to break records, with the world’s largest 26-megawatt offshore wind turbine unit, the world’s highest-altitude operational wind power project, and China’s farthest offshore wind power project successively connected to the grid.
Looking back, in 2000, China’s wind power installed capacity was less than 400,000 kilowatts, and the equipment was largely imported from abroad. Today, China supplies approximately 70% of the world’s wind power equipment, contributing to a reduction of over 60% in global wind power costs over the past decade. In areas with favorable wind resources, the levelized cost of onshore wind power has dropped to 0.1-0.15 yuan per kilowatt-hour, while the average cost of offshore wind power has fallen to about 0.33 yuan per kilowatt-hour, making wind power a competitive power source in the market.
2. China’s first million-ton annual carbon injection oil field established in Xinjiang
As of December 28, China National Petroleum Corporation’s Xinjiang Oilfield achieved a carbon dioxide injection volume exceeding 1 million tons this year, becoming the country’s first oilfield to reach an annual carbon injection scale of one million tons. This milestone marks a critical step forward in the large-scale application of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology at Xinjiang Oilfield, providing significant technical support and practical pathways for the green and low-carbon transformation of China’s oil and gas industry.
Located in the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang Oilfield is China’s first major oilfield. Since exploring carbon dioxide-driven oil extraction at the beginning of this century, the oilfield has progressively developed the “Junggar Model,” centered on “carbon source supply, efficient displacement, and safe storage,” through the coordinated advancement of management, technology, and industry. It is reported that the annual carbon injection volume has rapidly increased from 126,000 tons in 2022 to 1 million tons in 2025, with a cumulative carbon dioxide injection exceeding 2 million tons.
As a vital national energy base, the Junggar Basin possesses favorable conditions for developing the CCUS industry. The estimated carbon storage capacity in the region reaches billions of tons, and the concentration of surrounding industries and strong industrial synergy provide a solid foundation for building a large-scale CCUS industrial cluster.
3. Zero growth in China’s total water use since the “14th Five-Year Plan” period
Beijing, December 29 - It was recently announced at the inaugural China Water Conservation Award ceremony held in Beijing that since the beginning of the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, China has achieved zero growth in total water use while experiencing significant economic expansion and consecutive bumper harvests in grain production.
In recent years, with a focus on the development of water conservation policies and institutional systems, the Ministry of Water Resources has comprehensively advanced the national water conservation initiative. Efforts have been intensified in agricultural water efficiency, industrial water conservation and emission reduction, and urban water loss reduction, promoting the careful and efficient use of water resources and stringent management to drive significant water-saving achievements across society.
Since the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, China’s water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP and per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value have decreased by 17.7% and 23.6%, respectively, compared to the end of the “13th Five-Year Plan” period. The effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water has increased from 0.565 to 0.583, and the leakage rate of urban public water supply networks has dropped to below 10%.
(Main news sources: CCTVNEWS APP, Xinhua New Media, International Energy Network, China Energy Network, National Energy Administration)
