China’s Green Energy Triumphs
By Nikola Mikovic
Beijing’s Aggressive Renewable Strategy
While countries around the world actively develop strategies to accelerate energy transition, in China, in many aspects, a “green new world” has already become a reality. It is no surprise that the world’s second-largest economy hosts dozens of energy summits sharing its experience in achieving a successful shift to sustainable development.
The 2024 Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum, which kicked off on September 10 in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, was yet another opportunity for energy leaders and experts to discuss national priorities of green transition and international cooperation. Although Shanxi is one of China’s coal-rich provinces, its authorities plan to significantly expand renewable energy capacity, hoping that the region will set an example for fossil fuel-producing nations in developing green economies.
China has already demonstrated that achieving a sustainable and eco-friendly economy is not an unattainable dream. Even though the United States and some of its allies might see Beijing as a major geopolitical rival, many Western leaders, analysts, and pundits openly admit that the People’s Republic holds a dominant position in global green manufacturing.
In 2021, Frans Timmermans, who served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, said that the EU “highly appreciates China’s strong measures and obvious achievements in promoting green and low-carbon development.” In November last year, Fatih Birol, the chief of the International Energy Agency (IEA), described China as the “champion of clean energy.”
In July 2023, the US special climate envoy John F. Kerry praised China’s “incredible job” expanding renewable energy sources. In his view, the world’s second-largest economy had produced “more renewable energy, more solar and wind, than any other country in the world.”
“They have deployed more of it than any — than the rest of the world put together. And they are pursuing a very aggressive renewable strategy to try to ultimately reduce their emissions,” Kerry stressed.
If You Want to See the Future, Look at China
Despite viewing China as a major competitor in the global arena, some American publications and experts frequently acknowledge that China’s green energy development has become “a driving force for the global energy transition.” Indeed, the world’s second most populous country has achieved significant progress in boosting its renewable energy sector over the past few years.
In July of 2024, according to the official data, more than 50 percent of all new cars sold in the People’s Republic were electric. China is also installing and producing solar panels at unprecedented levels, as Beijing aims to generate 50 percent of its total electricity from renewable sources by 2030. In 2021 alone, Chinese companies accounted for 75 percent of solar panel production capacity worldwide.
According to Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, by the end of 2023, renewable energy accounted for 51.9 percent of China’s total installed power capacity, surpassing coal-fired power for the first time. Also, renewable energy’s share of total power generation rose from 31 percent at the end of last year to 35 percent by July this year.
As a result, China’s green energy development seems to have become a key catalyst for the global shift toward sustainable energy. What the People’s Republic has accomplished in energy transition in recent years is what other countries are likely to reach in the coming decades. According to the Global Energy Monitor report, the amount of wind and solar power under construction in China is now nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined.
China’s Role in the Middle East and Africa
Besides investing in its green economy, Beijing reportedly plans to help other countries’ energy transition. Reports suggests that the Chinese renewable energy developer Envision Energy aims to build a $1 billion green hydrogen industrial park in Spain, while Chinese corporations have already established themselves as essential partners in the Gulf states’ energy transition. In the United Arab Emirates, Chinese companies were involved in the construction of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest concentrated solar power in the world. In neighboring Saudi Arabia, China is expected to build a 2 gigawatt (GW) solar power plant, worth $972 million, while in Oman, Chinese company Hainan Drinda New Energy Technology plans to construct a factory for the production of solar photovoltaic cells – nonmechanical devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Besides the Middle East, China seems to have some ambitious green energy goals in Africa – a region that some authors see as “the continent of the future.” At the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held September 4-6 in Beijing, Chinese officials inked several green infrastructure deals with African countries, making the energy transition a focal point in the $50 billion it has pledged to the continent. According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing plans to implement 30 clean energy and green development projects in Africa in the coming years.
The People’s Republic is already involved in some significant wind, solar, and hydro initiatives in various African countries. For instance, China has financed and constructed large solar and wind farms across Kenya, substantially expanding access to renewable energy, especially in rural areas. In 2017, Chinese companies NARI Group Corporation and PowerChina Guizhou Engineering built an electricity transmission line in northern Kenya designed to connect the northern part of the country to the national electricity grid.
In Ethiopia, Chinese corporations built the Adama I and II wind power plants, helping the East African nation tap into its rich renewable energy potential. Most recently, in January of this year, Nigeria began operating the new Chinese-funded Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Station, worth $1.3 billion, to bolster power generation in the African most populous country.
According to Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Africa has the potential to become a green powerhouse that drives global environmental sustainability and economic development in tandem. La Camera, who also participated in the Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum, sees Africa as the globe’s next frontier for green energy initiatives. In the long term, China’s green energy development could become a driving force for the global energy transition, including for African nations.
However, for the foreseeable future, China will almost certainly remain the world’s largest carbon emitter, which means that energy policymakers in Beijing will have to work hard to gradually reduce the country’s dependency on fossil fuels. Their long-term goal – to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 – remains unchanged. That year, according to Goldman Sachs’s March 2023 report, China could also become energy self-sufficient.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government is likely to continue promoting renewable energy. The Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum, with the theme “Developing New Energy Productivity and Building a Clean, Beautiful World”, undoubtedly was a positive step in that direction. Such forums, along with other energy conferences, provide platforms where pundits from all over the world can share their insights into the latest developments in the green energy field. But more work remains to be done.
In the coming years, China is expected to transform the country’s power mix gradually. At the same time, Beijing will aim to continue playing the role of a crucial driver of global economic growth. The fact that clean-energy sectors were the largest contributors to China’s economic expansion in 2023, accounting for 40 percent of its GDP growth, demonstrates that it is possible to have both economic progress and advancement in green energy.
