While China is crushing the competition with its spending on green energy, the country is also single-handedly keeping the global coal industry afloat due to its continuous reliance on coal for its industries.
Last year, China alone was responsible for half the world’s spending on renewable energy, valued at $546 billion, nearly four times what the US spent on this year, with the EU in second place at $180 billion, with China expected to install 154 gigawatts worth of solar panels in 2023, nearly half the current global amount.
It’s clear that China is greatly benefiting from its dominant place in the renewable energy race, with Chinese solar panels becoming wildly popular worldwide, led by political and energy safety consideration more than anything else.
However, China is by no means a king of green environment, as it remains a champion of coal usage, the dirtiest of fuels, with nearly all the world’s new coal stations built in China last year, with the country continuing to build more every year.
While China is the world’s second largest economy behind the US, it is however the world’s top polluter, and if the world is to achieve its climate pledges and reduce carbon emissions, China will have to get rid of its coal industries, which is a tall task.
Coal remains vital to China’s energy safety net even as other forms of energies failed, and this year alone, the massive hydroelectric energy industry in China failed due to drought, with coal stepping in to fill the void. It’s considered a symbol of reliability and safety in the cultural conscience, and some analysts note that relinquishing coal in China could raise political and economic instability in the country.
