At the start of 2017, China announced that it would invest $360 billion in renewable energy by 2020 and scrap plans to build 85 coal-fired power plants.

China is not just investing in renewables and phasing out coal.

With less intensive energy use and increased efficiency, energy productivity in the global economy could increase by 40-70 percent over the next two decades.

While global growth in energy demand is slowing, China's share of that demand is increasing. By 2035, China may account for 28 percent of the world's primary energy demand, up from 23 percent today, whereas the United States could account for just 12 percent by 2035, down from 16 percent today.

China has already made significant progress in reducing its resource intensity: between 1980 and 2010, its economy grew 18-fold, but its energy consumption grew only fivefold.

At China's National People's Congress earlier this year, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang reported that China's energy intensity fell by 5 percent last year alone.

Renewables are one reason for China's declining resource intensity.

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