Reference News Network, February 13 report: According to the UK's The Guardian website on February 5, a new analysis shows that China's clean energy industry drove more than 90% of the country's investment growth last year. If considered as an economy, its scale would rank eighth in the world.
The report shows that the manufacturing, installation and export of batteries, electric vehicles, solar power, wind power and related technological products contributed more than one-third to China's economic growth, marking the second time in three years.
The report points out that despite the cooling effect of US President Trump's tariff policies and his support for fossil fuels, the latest data still show strong momentum in the energy transition.
The report, written by the Finnish Research Center for Energy and Clean Air, was published on the UK "Carbon Brief" website. The new analysis found that the actual value of China's clean energy industry almost doubled between 2022 and 2025.
The report states that in 2025, the output value of China's clean energy industry reached a record high of 15.4 trillion yuan, comparable to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Brazil or Canada. China is increasingly relying on this industry.
Most of the new capacity was used to meet domestic demand for promoting wind and solar energy.
Chinese officials said that this is not just a transformation of the way electricity is generated, but a systemic change in China's power and transportation systems. Last year, the most notable investment growth occurred in the battery sector, which is applying high-efficiency technologies to electric vehicles and grid storage upgrades.
The report says that exports are also growing rapidly. As the world's largest manufacturing country continues to expand its capacity, photovoltaic power has been praised by the International Energy Agency as "the cheapest power generation method in history," and now many countries in the Global South can afford it.
Lauri Myllyvirta, the main author of the report, said: "Some other countries are accelerating the deployment of (solar power). Many African countries have imported large amounts of solar equipment. Electric vehicles are being sold to markets that no one expected to achieve breakthrough growth in electric vehicles last year (or even within this decade)."
He said that the increase in China's clean energy investment is a positive signal.
The report states that the Chinese government will release the next five-year plan, further clarifying the future direction of China's energy sector. (Translated by Hu Guanghe)
Photovoltaic panels on the roof of a factory building in the Haigang Economic Development Zone of Tangshan City, taken on December 25, 2025 (Xinhua News Agency)
Original article: toutiao.com/article/7606163909128536618/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.