Over the past decade, China has transformed from a heavily coal-fired country to the undisputed global leader in the energy transition. The pace keeps accelerating: In April 2025 alone, China installed more solar than Australia has in its entire history. By 2030, as little as one-seventh of China&#8217;s projected spare solar manufacturing capacity could electrify everyone without power in 88 low-income countries.
Yet, this progress has not been recognized by much of the West, which still fixates on headlines about &#8220;building three coal plants a week&#8221; while missing that China is getting far ahead of US decarbonization efforts. China&#8217;s vast exports of energy transition solutions are rapidly decarbonizing other emerging economies, while the nation&#8217;s share of global clean energy patents jumped from 5% in 2000 to 75% today. Chinese companies now spend ten times more on electricity R&#038;D than US companies and match the combined energy R&#038;D spending of the US and EU together. The innovation advantage has flipped.
To understand China&#8217;s oversized role in the energy transition, Muyi Yang and Sam Butler-Sloss of Ember join us to break down their report China Energy Transition Review 2025. We&#8217;ll review how China is routinely beating its own transition targets by three to six years. We&#8217;ll hear how Chinese firms have announced over $200 billion in overseas clean tech manufacturing investments, surpassing the scale of US investment abroad under the Marshall Plan. Solar, batteries, and EVs are growing three times faster than China&#8217;s overall economy, hitting nearly 10% of GDP. Chinese solar exports to Namibia, Cambodia, and similar countries now exceed the entire centralized power generation capacity of those countries.
The result: what took decades with old energy is happening in years with solar. China&#8217;s enormous commitment to the energy transition is a strategic path to economic growth and economic and political power, and it heralds the end of fossil fuel&#8217;s dominance of the global energy system by 2030.

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[Episode #260] – China Energy Transition Review 2025

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