China, which long targeted rapid industrial growth despite its environmental consequences, now aims to become the global leader in "low-carbon tech for a carbon-constrained world" as it unveils its new five-year plan this week, analysts say.

That shift is likely to include an accelerated pullback from its role as a major financier of new coal-fired power plants at home and abroad, Isabel Hilton, founder of China Dialogue, a nonprofit news organization, told an online event on Monday.

China is today the world's largest emitter of planet-heating gases, responsible for about 28% of total global emissions.