Higher wages in China increase consumer demand but have a limited effect on energy use

In the International Energy Outlook 2021 (IEO2021), Issues in Focus: Changes in Composition of Economic Growth in China, we compared the IEO2021 Reference case with the Higher China Wages case—a case in which we assumed that a smaller working-age population will result in a faster increase in wages through 2050. We compared these cases to better understand the potential economic outcomes in China and the associated energy use in each case.