Renewable energy is poised for boom times in China over the coming decades, and they'll be key factors in the development of the nation's economy, a global energy agency said on Wednesday.
Renewable energy will account for half of the increase in global electricity generation by 2035, with wind power and solar power to account for 45 percent of the increase among renewables.
Turbine blades are hoisted onto a wind turbine at a wind farm in Hami, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Xinjiang is one of the biggest wind power generating regions in China. The country is trying to increase the proportion of renewable energy in its total energy consumption mixture.
China will be the biggest country in terms of renewable generation by 2035, producing more electricity through those methods than the European Union, the United States and Japan combined.
"China is working hard to raise its renewable energy use among the total mix, aiming to improve the country's air quality and cut emissions," said Gu Jun, deputy director of the international division of the National Energy Administration.
China isn't a member of the IEA, but Gu said that China will work more closely with the agency on energy issues.
The IEA and six emerging economies - China, India, Russia, South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia - have signed a joint declaration involving closer cooperation with regard to global energy challenges.
"As the global energy map is redrawn, the IEA's 28 member countries face many of the same energy challenges as key emerging economies, and we all share a common interest in building a secure, sustainable energy future," said Van der Hoeven.
"This is why the IEA has always attached such high importance to working with such dynamic countries outside our membership as China."