The British weekly New Scientist published an article titled "Why China's Clean Energy Technology Will Determine Our Climate Future" on its website on October 4. The author is James Dinnan. The full text is excerpted as follows:

Skeptics of Western countries' plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions often ask a question: What about China? This simple and repetitive question is the right question, albeit for the wrong reasons. That’s because China plays a seemingly contradictory role in the global landscape of climate change: Today, it is a major emitter of greenhouse gases, but it is also the world’s largest builder and supplier of clean energy technologies that are critical to reducing emissions. Words are very important.

As it gradually reduces its use of fossil fuels and promotes energy transition, the Chinese government increasingly uses this position to gain geopolitical influence, making China play an increasingly important role in the 21st century and influencing the global response. Progress on climate change.

China’s path to becoming a green superpower has multiple stages, starting with a domestic energy transition. "The scale of (China's) clean energy investment is unparalleled," said Lauri Miruvirta of the Finnish Center for Energy and Clean Air Research.

2023 will be a record year in the history of global renewable energy development, with more than half of new wind and solar power generation capacity set to be built in China. China is also building new hydropower facilities, adding more electricity than anywhere else. In August this year, China overtook Europe to become the largest producer of offshore wind power. By June this year, fossil fuel power generation accounted for less than half of China's total electricity generation, two years ahead of schedule, although coal remains a large part of its energy mix.

Electric vehicle sales in China also hit a record. At the same time, China also has the world's largest high-speed rail system.

All this leads observers to believe that China can at least achieve its carbon peak target by 2030 or earlier. A report by Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy even predicts that China's emissions from burning fossil fuels could peak as soon as this year, with emissions falling by 10% by 2030.

By aggressively developing its clean energy sources, China has also lowered costs for the rest of the world. "They've brought huge benefits to the world," said Philip Andrews-Speed of the Oxford Energy Institute in the UK. That's in large part thanks to falling costs as new onshore wind and solar are now built The facility is more cost-effective than new fossil fuel generation capacity in much of the world. This in turn has made China a major supplier of most of the world’s solar panels, wind turbine components and batteries, as well as the minerals needed to produce all these materials.

In addition, China’s direct investment in overseas clean energy is also increasing. Since the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed in 2013, China has invested heavily in various infrastructure projects in countries along the route, including investment in oil, gas, coal and other related projects. But China now appears to be redirecting those investments toward green energy.