China is an Energy Monster

China’s energy story is both encouraging and troubling. The country is building solar and wind capacity at historic speed, reshaping the global clean energy market and driving down the cost of decarbonization worldwide. Yet coal still anchors the system, pulled back into service whenever demand surges, growth slows, or political risks rise. The result is an energy transition propelled by scale and capital, but constrained by incentives that continue to favor short-term reliability over long-term progress.

Annual change in solar energy generation

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Solar power generation

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Installed solar capacity

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Sales of electric vehicles

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Coal consumption

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Carbon emissions