Expert: Starting this year, various regions will face carbon assessments for the first time, and many places have already felt the pressure.

On January 16, Jiang Bing, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Energy Research Society and Director of the Carbon Neutrality Committee, stated at the "2026 China New Energy Electricity Roundtable" theme exchange meeting that 2026 is truly China's "double carbon year", with the emission reduction task transitioning from the preparatory stage to the substantive phase. According to the central deployment and the State Council's work plan, the "baton" of carbon emission assessment has fundamentally changed: the "14th Five-Year Plan" focused on carbon emission intensity control, and after reaching the peak of carbon emissions, the focus will shift to total carbon emission control. Jiang Bing stated that the "Recommendations of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" passed at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Twentieth Central Committee of the Party have included "leveraging carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as a traction force, coordinating efforts to reduce carbon, control pollution, expand green initiatives, and promote growth" and "accelerate the construction of a new energy system" in the overall deployment. A complete assessment system has been established with principles of "local governments to be assessed, industries to be controlled, companies to be managed, projects to be evaluated, and products to be traced". Starting this year, local governments will face formal carbon assessments for the first time, and many regions have already felt the pressure.