China’s Green Energy ‘Revolution’ Is Powered by Coal

The only bright spot for the environment is the rapid expansion of state-of-the-art nuclear power

By Bjorn Lomborg. Excerpts:

"the country has dramatically scaled up energy use across the board—buoying “green” manufacturing with coal expansion—and grown rich in the process."

"Chinese annual solar production capacity is now more than twice the actual global solar-panel sales in 2024."

"every segment of the Chinese solar supply chain suffered profit losses in every quarter last year, with margins reaching almost as low as minus 60%. Between the start of 2024 and July 2025, more than 40 companies delisted, went bankrupt or were sold. The industry cut a third of its workforce in 2024."

"Every Chinese silicon smelter, an essential solar-panel material, requires its own coal-fired power station."

"Beijing’s insistence on EVs is better explained by the government’s desire to avoid dependence on foreign oil. EV battery packs are made using coal energy and charged on a coal-dominated grid. A 2023 estimate published in iScience shows that over its lifetime a Chinese EV emits 85% to 90% of the carbon of a gasoline car, in large part because of the heavy carbon debt incurred by the coal-produced battery. And this may be too optimistic, as many new buyers would otherwise have bought no car or a less-polluting hybrid. Moreover, Chinese EVs are driven much less than conventional cars, resulting in higher emissions per mile."

"while EVs reduced nitrogen-oxide emissions—a precursor to smog—by 1% since 2020, they have increased far deadlier sulfur-dioxide and particulate-matter pollution by 10% and 20%, respectively." 

[China] "hit a 10-year high of new coal plant construction. China remains the world’s top coal consumer, with fossils supplying over 87% of its primary energy."

"China in 2023 added more than five times as much coal energy as solar and wind energy."