How China’s Renewables Boom Is Fueling Its Coal Expansion
Spending on clean and dirty energy go hand in hand due to an antiquated market structure.
Dirty and clean.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergIn China’s energy transition, it is the best of times and the worst of times.
When US climate envoy John Kerry visits Beijing this week, he will find himself in a country that’s light years ahead of the US in building clean power. Spending on renewable energy will average nearly $250 billion a year between 2021 and 2023, close on the levels of every rich nation put together, according to the International Energy Agency. BloombergNEF expects China to install 154 gigawatts of solar panels this year, nearly half the 344GW total worldwide; it will also account for more than half of the wind power connected between now and 2030. China’s solar panel supply chain is already approaching the scale needed for the world to hit net zero. The future is happening now.