China Leads a Global Clean Energy Revolution
China’s ambitious clean energy transition is dramatically altering teh global energy landscape. Rapid advancements in renewable energy deployment, grid infrastructure, and energy storage, coupled with increasing electrification across all sectors – transport, buildings, and industry – are pushing China towards a peak in fossil fuel consumption. Together, this progress is lowering costs and accelerating the adoption of clean technologies worldwide, creating the potential for a global decline in fossil fuel reliance.
Renewable energy generation in China is surging. Wind and solar electricity generation increased by 25% in 2024 and a further 27% in the first half of 2025, leading to a 2% reduction in fossil fuel generation during the same period. Notably, wind and solar now generate more electricity (2,073 TWh in the year to June 2025) than all other clean sources – nuclear, hydro, and bioenergy – combined (1,936 TWh), a significant shift from just four years ago.
Massive investment fuels this change. China is the world’s leading investor in clean energy, committing $625 billion USD in 2024 – over 30% of the global total ($2,033bn). Investment in battery storage has tripled in the last three years, and grid investment reached a record high of $85 billion USD in 2024, a 25% increase as 2019.
Electrification is expanding beyond power generation. Electricity is now the dominant energy source in buildings and surpassed coal as the primary energy source for industry in 2023. While oil fuels still lead in transport, China’s rapidly growing electric vehicle fleet is steadily gaining market share.electricity now accounts for 32% of China’s final energy demand, exceeding the pace of many developed economies.This transition is driven by a fundamental shift in China’s growth strategy. Recognizing the limitations of a fossil fuel-based economy, the Chinese government is prioritizing an “ecological civilization” – a model that balances economic growth with social and environmental sustainability, enshrined in the Constitution since 2018.
The benefits are ample. The clean energy sector contributed $1.9 trillion to China’s economy in 2024 – roughly 10% of its GDP - and is growing three times faster than the national economy. Chinese companies are at the forefront of innovation, now responsible for approximately 75% of global patent applications in clean energy technology, a dramatic increase from 5% in 2000.
this progress is driving down costs globally for key technologies – wind turbines, solar panels, storage batteries, and electric vehicles – benefiting emerging markets, many of which are now outpacing OECD countries in renewable energy adoption and electrification.
