Tsinghua University launched its 2026 Global Carbon Neutrality Annual Progress Report at a high-level seminar on September 22, examining the forces accelerating or constraining the transition across 198 countries and regions. The event in Beijing formed part of activities marking the fifth anniversary of Tsinghua’s Institute for Carbon Neutrality and the sixth anniversary of China’s "dual carbon" goals, while coinciding with the start of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period. The report, presented by Tsinghua University professor Wang Can, draws on more than 200 indicators. It finds that technological progress is increasingly driving a new phase of the low-carbon transition, with wind and solar power, energy storage and electric vehicles expanding rapidly. However, grid integration limits, high financing costs, weak market mechanisms and obstacles to international technology diffusion remain significant. Clean hydrogen and CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage) face additional challenges involving demand, infrastructure and viable business models. Developing economies face especially strong barriers, including expensive financing, trade restrictions and insufficient capacity to deploy green technologies. The report says the transition’s pace and scale will increasingly depend on financing, infrastructure, markets and international cooperation advancing alongside technology. Its full text is available through Tsinghua University’s Global Carbon Neutrality Progress Tracker.