New Energy
China’s Surging Power Demand Creates a Climate Conundrum
- Manufacturing, electrification boosted energy use last year
- Renewables grew at record pace, but coal still widely used
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China’s electricity demand is becoming a key focal point in the global fight against climate change.
As the world’s largest polluter, China holds outsized sway over whether emissions can be reduced fast enough to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. The country’s breakneck adoption of clean energy technology has created hope that it will peak and start reducing greenhouse gases far earlier than its stated goal of 2030.