That’s three times more than the second-highest spending bloc, which was the European Union at $180 billion, and nearly four times the $141 billion spent by the United States.
According to a recent BloombergNEF analysis, China was responsible for nearly half of global spending in the renewable energy sector last year, clocking in at a whopping $546 billion. This duality is pronounced: China is at once the undisputed leader of the clean energy revolution and the world’s largest burner of coal. The second one – kicking coal – has proven to be comparatively rather low on President Xi Jinping’s agenda.
China is knocking that first imperative – clean energy spending – out of the park. Whether or not this will happen will heavily depend on two broad developments in the Chinese energy sector: ramping up renewable energy production capacity and decreasing the country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels, and especially coal-fired power.
This means that China could make or break the world’s ability to meet global climate goals and emissions targets. China’s massive clean energy boom has unfolded in tandem with a major uptick in coal-fired power, proving once again that the country’s leading role in clean energy spending is all about energy security rather than a commitment to cleaning up its carbon footprint.Ĭhina has the second biggest economy in the world after the United States, but it is the world’s single largest greenhouse gas emitter.
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