Just wondering

It’s true that in 2023 China commissioned about 50 gigawatts (GW) of coal power, roughly equal to a new 1-GW coal plant a week – nearly twice as much as in 2021 and 2022. The increase is believed to have been largely fuelled by instability in global supply chains and energy market fluctuations due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Yet the utilization of China’s coal plants has been hovering around 50% – in other words, they are just as likely to be unused as used. The Chinese government itself appears to be conceding they are a poor investment, with coal plant approvals falling nearly 85% in the first half of 2024 compared to H1 2023.

While China is building new coal plants, the idea that “China doesn’t do anything” environmentally clean is “pants on fire” false. To the contrary, in the first nine months of 2024 China built an estimated 195 GW of solar and wind power. That is nearly four times as much as the 43 GW utility-scale solar and wind capacity and 7 GW of solar residential power the U.S. is expected to build in all of 2024. And China isn’t stopping: two-thirds of the utility-scale wind and solar capacity in construction worldwide is in China.

In short, China is building about 20 solar and wind farms a week – and growing.

China also dominates the manufacturing and sales of electric vehicles (EVs), due to government support for advanced developments in battery technologies. The country is home to over half of global EVs, with sales of EVs in China now outpacing conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. Its EV industry is the largest in the world.

Quite simply, when it comes to clean energy, China is clearly the global leader. One analysis published on CarbonBrief, estimates that China’s pursuit of clean energy was the main driver of the country’s 5.2% GDP growth in 2023, contributing $1.6 trillion to China’s economy.