China has emerged as a leader in renewable energy, achieving significant milestones that suggest the country may be nearing its peak carbon emissions. That’s still a remarkable May, with China adding an extraordinary 90 gigawatts of solar capacity. With this milestone, India cements its place as the world’s largest renewable energy producer. In the past six months, the country produced 24% of its electricity from renewables. Now even more incredible, this chunk of money comes solely from renewable energy sources—solar and wind. China, meanwhile, is making rapid strides in clean energy development. This commitment is especially notable considering the country continues to be the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
The year-on-year increase in steam coal power generation in China accelerated to 70% y-o-y in June 2023. Remarkably, solar and wind generation accounted for 89% of this new demand. China has been pretty clear that it’s moving towards cleaner energy sources. The country is now rapidly deploying renewable energy projects at massive scales, even while contending with a queue of coal projects still ready to go.
Renewable Energy Leadership
Over the last several years, China has made great efforts to assume the global vanguard in green energy adoption. In fact, as of last year, the country installed more new solar and wind power capacity in 2016 than the rest of the world combined. This incredible landmark shows the ongoing transition in the U.S. energy sector as we continue to move away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources.
Belinda Schäpe highlighted this progress, stating, “China added more solar and wind power capacity than the rest of the world combined last year.” She further emphasized that “we are now at a point where solar and wind capacity is actually bigger than all thermal power capacity,” indicating a significant transition away from fossil fuels.
This progress has simultaneously helped achieve China’s energy independence and reduce dependence on coal, therefore decreasing its carbon footprint. “It’s due to a really rapid increase in renewables build-out in China that has translated into an increase in power generation coming from clean sources and driving down the coal share in the power mix, and with that, bringing down emissions,” Schäpe noted.
Emission Trends and Coal Dependency
And it’s true that China has made tremendous progress on renewable energy. Yet it remains the planet’s largest carbon emitter, contributing to nearly 30% of global emissions. More recent data indicate that nationwide emissions are falling slightly. Specifically, CO2 levels had declined in the year ending May 2025 by 1.6%. This trend reinforces the idea that China is starting an emissions plateauing period, if not a full peak.
Li Shou commented on this trend: “We have certainly entered into, if not yet an emission peak, a plateauing period for China’s emissions.” He pointed out that “the coal share in the power mix has dropped to the lowest level since 2016, to just over 50 percent,” highlighting the gradual move towards cleaner energy.
Meanwhile, China continues to approve an average of two new coal-powered projects every week in 2022 and 2023. These new projects are consuming much less coal than the previous generations of plants. This two-pronged strategy of building more renewable energy and curbing down coal extraction could be a win-win way to meet climate targets and protect communities.
Economic Implications and Global Influence
China’s aggressive investment in renewable energy is not solely motivated by environmental concerns. It also aligns with the country’s long-term economic interests. The climate action shift has reverberated across the international trading system, especially in relation to Australian thermal coal export. In fact, China is the largest market, importing around 30% of these exports.
Li Shou emphasized the connection between domestic energy policies and international markets: “China’s increasing wind and solar power generation, combined with increasing domestic supplies of coal, creates a ‘double whammy’ for Australian coal exports.” A changing energy environment Though the national politics have changed under Xi, China’s pivot to renewables is likely to change global coal markets.
As China moves further down its green trajectory, it seems increasingly insulated from outside forces like a change of heart from the U.S. federal government. Li Shou remarked, “This will not change because of what is happening or not happening in the US and if anything, Beijing will just continue with this green path because doing these things is ultimately in the country’s long-term economic interest.”
Mr. Li added that “there has been a realization on the Chinese side that they should continue and double down on their climate and environmental agenda,” emphasizing that these changes are primarily for domestic benefits rather than global pressures.
