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[text/ruan jiaqi, observer network]

"adding the word 'global' before the energy transition is actually a confusing statement. in fact, there is only one country that is leading the development of the entire energy transition - china." david wallace-wells, a new york times columnist who focuses on climate change, quoted this passage in his commentary published on the 16th to point out china's outstanding contribution to the global energy transition.

in his description, china is transforming from the so-called "climate villain" in the west to the "climate savior", far ahead of other countries and regions on the earth in reversing the carbon emissions situation, and completely rewriting the story of global green transformation on its own.

based on this point of view, the article points out that while china is investing heavily in green technology and making amazing breakthroughs, the united states is betting on the green technology tariff war such as the inflation reduction act, trying to build a wall with protectionism. this also means that if the green energy transition is a competition, the united states has lost to china in all aspects.

when refuting the us tariff policy and "overcapacity theory", david was more worried, "what will happen if china no longer tries to save the world?" in his view, the progress of energy transformation is often hailed as a "global" success, but in fact, if we ignore china's achievements, the global progress is not optimistic. it is indisputable that china occupies a key position in the issue of green transformation.

“looking beyond china, those amazing global energy transition curves are going to slow down noticeably: they’re still going in the right direction, but at a much slower pace.”

how china makes "the unimaginable become reality". david spent a lot of space in the article introducing a series of impressive achievements china has made in the green technology competition in recent years.

let’s look at the solar energy sector first. the article lists that in 2023, the world’s new photovoltaic installed capacity, including china, will be about 425gw. after excluding china (263gw), this figure drops rapidly to 162gw, with the united states accounting for only 33gw.

as early as 2019, china's newly installed photovoltaic capacity accounted for a quarter of the world's total. by last year, this figure was 62% higher than the global total. in the past five years, china's newly installed photovoltaic capacity has increased by more than eight times, while the growth outside china has not even doubled.

if we leave china out of the picture, although the global new photovoltaic installed capacity has increased, the data is hardly impressive: in the five years from 2019, 90gw→93gw→100gw→133gw→162gw.

this is not limited to the photovoltaic sector. the article cited a new estimate that nearly two-thirds of all new large-scale solar and wind power plants built worldwide this year are in china. china has deployed more than eight times the amount of green energy as any other country in the world, and the g7 countries combined only account for a quarter of china's.

even more encouraging is china’s role in helping the rest of the world decarbonize, moving upstream from the final product into the green technology supply chain.

in 2022, about 90% of the solar silicon wafers and solar cells produced globally came from china. last year, more than 60% of the world's wind turbines were made in china, and 60% of the world's electric vehicle sales came from china.

at the same time, the united states is on a "downhill road". in 2004, the united states' share in the global solar manufacturing industry was 13%. last year, this share had dropped to below 1%, while china's share increased from 1% to 80%.

the author noted that ten years ago, the united states and its allies tried their best to urge china to join the decarbonization race; five years ago, western diplomats often complained that if china did not cooperate with global decarbonization, even if wealthy countries made achievements, it would be difficult to turn the tide; even today, there are still people who only pay lip service to climate awareness, and they justify their already slow decarbonization actions by saying that they are "slowing down" with the world trend.

but the reality is quite the opposite. in terms of energy transition, the united states not only lags behind its peers and natural allies in europe, but is also far behind its main geopolitical and geoeconomic rival, china. american policymakers are also imposing green technology tariffs in the name of protecting the us clean energy industry, which is quite ironic at a time when china is playing a leading role in the global energy transition through regional transformation adapted to local conditions in "form, speed and scope".

“if this is a race, china will be far ahead. (because) in terms of price point, we have lost the race; and in terms of deployment speed, we have also lost,” david concluded.

of course, the article still inevitably talks about china being the country with the largest total carbon emissions, leaving out the fact that china's per capita emissions are far lower than those of the united states and europe. however, it also acknowledges that china has placed a huge bet on emerging energy technologies for the future at a time when its economic growth is slowing and has not yet reached the global "high-income" level, and that the work the country has done has long exceeded its global commitment to the speed of its own transformation.

the article states that this astonishing impact can be measured from multiple dimensions. for example: this year, china has achieved its 2030 renewable energy target six years ahead of schedule, while the united states is more focused on artificial intelligence; data from the international energy agency (iea) also shows that china's new solar energy can avoid 619 million tons of emissions each year, six times that of the united states. all wind power generation in the rest of the world has reduced carbon emissions by 343 million tons, and china alone has reduced emissions by 487 million tons; in addition, china has more than twice the land area used to build solar power plants as the united states... there are countless examples like this.

at the end of the article, david believes that energy transformation is currently largely a "chinese project" because compared with the progress made around the world, china's leading advantage is so far ahead that the united states, which envies its status, has launched a green technology trade war against it.

he worries that the united states and its allies are frantically suppressing china in the field of green and clean energy under the banner of so-called opposition to "chinese subsidies" and "overcapacity". if this causes china to "retreat", reduce support for green industries, and cause the global green transformation engine to "idle", the world will be in trouble.

in fact, david's worries are unnecessary. as the white paper "china's energy transition" released by china at the end of august said, energy transformation is the only way for china. china is promoting energy transformation not because others ask us to do it, but because we want to do it ourselves; it is not a matter of whether we can do it, but a matter of necessity. the white paper clearly states china's firm proposition of working with other countries to build a clean and beautiful world. responding to the challenge of climate change and achieving sustainable use of energy are related to human well-being. china is willing to work with the international community to deepen practical cooperation in energy transformation.

li chuangjun, director of the new and renewable energy department of the national energy administration, also emphasized at a press conference recently that china's committed "dual carbon" target is unshakable, but the path, method, pace and intensity to achieve this goal should and must be decided by ourselves and will never be influenced by others.

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