China's challenging path to become "carbon neutral" by 2060

• "Achieving this goal of net-zero emissions would represent a milestone in modern Chinese history comparable to 1949," write IEA chief economist Laszlo Varro and An Fengquan, a senior adviser.
• "To do so, would require China to quickly embark on an ambitious multi-decade effort to transform its economy, as it did after 1978."

The big picture: The IEA says there are steep cuts needed to meet the pledge.

• Contributions of three broad technology categories — renewables, efficiency, and a bucket combining nuclear power, carbon capture and more — are needed to show the reductions.

Threat level: The piece not only describes the need to accelerate transformation of China's coal-heavy power sector, but also its huge heavy manufacturing industries, where the need for very high-temperature processes make it hard to replace fossil fuels.