NEW: what does China's target of 25% non-fossil energy mean for the power sector? In short, wind&solar power capacity will have to grow to 1600-1800GW, from 500GW at the end of 2020. THREAD https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1338800315882147840

President Xi announced a target of 1200GW of wind&solar capacity in 2030 on Saturday, which would mean installations of 75GW per year. While might seem a lot, it was taken as a bearish signal for the renewable energy industry which had been expecting well upwards of 100GW.

However, even assuming the ambitious goal of 100GW nuclear by 2030 is met, meeting the 25% non-fossil energy target will require a lot more than 1200GW of wind&solar.

To meet the new targets, annual installations of wind and solar over this decade will have to average around 110-140GW. That's Germany's total capacity added every year.

By 2030, China will get 45-50% of all electricity from non-fossil sources and 25-30% from wind&solar.

Will this be enough to stem the rise of China's CO2 emissions? Not necessarily - that depends on whether the country executes a successful shift away from the construction and heavy industry focused economic growth model.

The new CO2 intensity target, an "over 65%" reduction in emissions per unit of GDP from 2005 to 2030, doesn't guarantee that either. If GDP growth averages 5% over this decade, emissions could rise by up to 15% from 2020 to 2030 - China's pledges only require a peak before then.

So China's new 2030 targets have put one piece of the puzzle in place: ambitious clean energy investment. And that's assuming that the 2025 targets don't leave too much of work for the second half of the decade.