A groundbreaking Chinese innovation is turning one of climate policy’s oldest assumptions on its head: that cutting emissions inevitably hurts the economy.
Critics including US President Donald Trump have long dismissed green regulations as a drag on industry, claiming they raise costs and cut production. Even the European Union is now reconsidering its phase-out targets for fossil fuel vehicles, using the negative economic impact as justification.
But new research from a team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Peking University shows that slashing carbon emissions does not have to come at a steep cost. In fact, it can dramatically boost productivity .
The team has developed a simple yet revolutionary modification to a major coal-based chemical process, reducing carbon dioxide emissions to near zero – while more than tripling the yield of high-value chemicals known as olefins, essential for plastics, pharmaceuticals and advanced materials.
“This is like installing a ‘molecular switch’ on a complex chemical reaction, which can precisely shut off the side reaction pathways that generate carbon dioxide,” study author Ma Ding, a professor at Peking University, told Science and Technology Daily on December 24.
This is no isolated case. In recent years, China has significantly boosted productivity by pursuing decarbonisation , enhancing the competitiveness of its products in global markets, and taking the lead in key technologies such as electric vehicles, new materials and renewable energy.