China Unveils 2026-2030 Strategy for Digital and Green Dual Transformation

Seven Chinese central government agencies have released a joint policy blueprint to coordinate digital technology expansion with national decarbonization targets between 2026 and 2030. Led by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the National Development and Reform Commission, the plan mandates that computing facilities match their home provinces' renewable electricity consumption responsibility weightings by 2030. The document establishes 14 tasks across four primary domains, targeting energy efficiency in artificial intelligence and 5G networks alongside deeper digital integration in heavy industry, agriculture, and urban management.

As the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing drives up electricity consumption, the policy establishes a formal framework to prevent digital infrastructure from derailing China's climate commitments. By directly tying computing facilities to provincial renewable power quotas, the plan aims to accelerate clean power purchasing, push data center operators toward western regions with abundant renewable resources, and incentivize the development of low-power AI architectures.

Seven Chinese central government departments have issued a joint blueprint designed to integrate the country's digital expansion with its green transition during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, spanning 2026 through 2030. The document, titled the "Implementation Plan for Promoting Digital and Green Synergistic Transformation Development (2026–2030)," was jointly published by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Commerce, according to a notice released by the cyberspace authority. The framework outlines four core pillars covering 14 priority tasks. These focus on driving joint innovation across digital and green technologies, raising energy efficiency across emerging digital sectors, embedding dual-transformation applications into key economic sectors, and building foundational infrastructure such as carbon accounting mechanisms and international cooperation frameworks. A central focus of the policy is addressing the escalating energy demands of advanced computing and artificial intelligence. By 2030, the plan aims to substantially lower costs and improve efficiencies in AI deployments, utilizing algorithmic tools to spur low-carbon technological innovation. At the same time, the document demands significant improvements in the energy performance of computing infrastructure and 5G telecommunication base stations. Notably, the plan stipulates that computing facilities and other key digital infrastructure must achieve renewable electricity consumption levels aligned with the renewable power consumption responsibility weightings assigned to their host provinces. This targets data center operators directly, requiring them to scale up green power purchases and locate workloads in areas with surplus clean generation. Beyond digital infrastructure, the initiative calls for applying digital intelligence to decarbonize traditional economic sectors. Target domains include smart agriculture, green manufacturing, low-carbon commercial logistics, consumer markets, and municipal administration, alongside the deployment of algorithmic monitoring to assist ecological and environmental governance.