(TibetanReview.net, Mar06’25) – China has on Mar 5 cited the geologically highly dangerous and geostrategically ominous hydropower dam it is building near India’s border in Himalayan Tibet on the Yarlung Tsangpo river among a package of major projects it is developing to tackle climate change as it moves to bring its carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. Downstream India sees the projects purpose as potentially ominous despite China’s assurances.
The world’s largest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gas said it would develop new offshore wind farms and accelerate the construction of “new energy bases” across its vast desert areas, reported theedgemalaysia.com Mar 5, citing the National Development and Reform CommissionChina’s economic planner, in an official report.
“China will actively and prudently work towards peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality,” the report was quoted as saying.
The report noted that the controversial hydropower facility on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet had raised concerns in India about its potential impact on downstream water flows.
The commission has also said it would develop a direct power transmission route connecting Tibet with Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong in the southeast.
The report said China is not expected to meet its five-year goal to bring carbon intensity down by 18% by the end of this year, and it has not yet announced an annual target for 2025.
“Despite the world record expansion of renewables, an inconvenient truth is that China’s economy hasn’t become much more energy efficient in recent years,” Yao Zhe, global policy advisor with Greenpeace in Beijing, has said.
The Yarlung Tsangpo hydropower dam is being built in a seismically active zone and China said the Dingri earthquake near Mt Everest on Jan 7 had caused damages to five dams in the area, leading to the evacuation of some 1,500 residents from six villages.
Besides, the project, considered as the world’s largest infrastructure or dam project, is seen as a potential weapon against India as it will enable China to control the flow of the river’s waters – limiting its volume in times of shortages and unleashing it to cause massive floods at other times.