What happened
At the 2026 Taiyuan Energy Low-Carbon Development Forum, the International Geothermal Forum and Seventh Geoscience International Symposium were held in Taiyuan, Shanxi, on September 5. Graeme Beardsmore, a member of the International Geothermal Standard Committee, said global energy-system decarbonization is urgent and geothermal energy should play a major role because of its unique advantages. He stressed that international cooperation and knowledge sharing are vital for developing the geothermal industry.
At the event, figures showed that China's geothermal heating and cooling area grew by an average of 6.5 percent per year during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, reaching 1.65 billion square meters by 2025, while China's geothermal industry has long ranked first globally in scale. Beardsmore cited a joint venture between China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation and Iceland's Arctic Green as an example of geothermal heating advancing urban energy decarbonization and serving as a model for international cooperation.
Mexico's Vice Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Jose Luis Samaniego, said Mexico has put forward new legislation to integrate geothermal energy more effectively into its energy structure and move toward a green, sustainable transition. He called China a benchmark in this field and expressed strong hope for deeper cooperation to make Mexico's economy more resilient. Zhang Junfeng, vice president of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), said his university's academician-led team discovered a geothermal well in Datong, Shanxi, with temperatures above 150 degrees Celsius — the highest-temperature and highest-self-flow well in central and eastern China.
Why it matters
The forum highlights that geothermal energy, often praised for being clean, stable and widely available, cannot reach its full decarbonization potential through isolated national efforts alone. Cooperation on standards, technology and project models may be as important as drilling capacity and investment.
The examples from China, Iceland and Mexico suggest a growing pattern: policy openings and cross-border ventures are emerging as practical pathways for geothermal deployment. If these collaborations expand, they could help countries with younger geothermal sectors move faster toward low-carbon energy systems.
Key facts
Graeme Beardsmore, a member of the International Geothermal Standard Committee, said geothermal energy has unique advantages and should play an important role in decarbonization, with international cooperation and knowledge sharing crucial to developing the industry.
China's geothermal heating and cooling area grew by an average of 6.5 percent yearly during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and reached 1.65 billion square meters in 2025; the country's geothermal industry has long been the world's largest in scale.
The forum was co-organized by nine institutions, including the Iceland Geological Survey and the International Geothermal Standard Committee, and drew more than 120 guests from 28 countries and regions.
What to watch next
Whether the Sino-Icelandic joint venture highlighted at the forum can serve as a widely replicable model for urban-scale geothermal heating and decarbonization.
Whether Mexico's proposed geothermal legislation translates into concrete cooperation with China, which Mexican officials describe as a benchmark for geothermal development.