China’s massive deployment of electric vehicles, batteries, solar and wind power has stunned many in the west, giving Beijing the lead in the race to transform energy and transport systems. It has also handed the world’s biggest polluter some leverage in climate change diplomacy.
However, China’s build-out of new renewable energy projects and electricity-based transport may turn out to be the easy part in the fight against global warming. The tougher task is decarbonising energy-intensive industry.
The scale of the challenge is eye-watering. Powered by coal and low-cost labour, China has become the world’s factory floor and its industries contribute around two-thirds of the country’s carbon emissions and just over one-third of annual GDP.