The 14^th five-year plan (FYP), covering the years 2021 to 2025, was officially endorsed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) on 11 March 2021. The Plan is divided into 19 sections and 65 chapters, touching on all aspects of development over the next five years, as well as presenting China’s 2035 vision.

The Plan is wide in scope and addresses all three pillars of development – economic, social and environmental. Its main underlying narrative is one of continuity, with a few innovations and scaled up ambitions.

In this note, we highlight the key novelties, challenges and strategies presented in the Plan, as well as cross cutting and recurrent themes and points for further reflection. A few areas may benefit from further strengthening and elaboration to put the guidelines into practice and set China on a solid path to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and meeting the Paris Agreement. In this respect, attention must also be paid to the sectoral FYPs, due by the end of the year, for more actionable details.