As the world races to cut carbon emissions in the fight against climate change, a potentially game-changing milestone may have been reached.

China - currently responsible for some 30% of global emissions - saw its emissions decline in the 12 months up to May 2025.

Crucially, this would be the first time emissions have fallen even as demand for power across the Chinese economy grew rapidly. Previous drops have only ever taken place during shocks like the Covid pandemic, which slowed the country's economy.

Given the outsized role the country - home to more than a billion people - has played in increasing global emissions in recent years, it is a moment to celebrate.

"The world would have stabilised its emissions 10 years ago if it weren't for China," Lauri Myllyvirta, of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, points out to the BBC.

Mr Myllyvirta's own research found China's emissions were down 1.6% compared to the same period last year.

The need for China, and all countries, to reduce emissions has never been more pressing.

According to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world cannot simply stabilise the amount of emissions pumped into the atmosphere annually, if it is to hold global warming to below 1.5C. Warming above this temperature would lead to devastating effects for people around the world.

Instead, global annual emissions must start falling if the worst effects of climate change are to be averted.

So how has China achieved this?

And is this the first step towards a sustained decline, or a blip in China's output?

Much of the decrease in emissions can be put down to countrywide investments in wind and solar.

According to Myllyvirta, China has installed more than half of the solar and wind generation capacity that has been installed globally over the past few years.

"The solar capacity that China installed last year is comparable to what the EU has overall," he said. "It's a staggering........

© BBC