On December 28, 2017, a car was driving on a solar panel highway in Jinan, Shandong Province, China (Reuters)

A report from the London-based think tank "Ember" states that clean energy investments led by the Chinese government have now become the main factor determining the speed of global decarbonization.

The report released this Tuesday stated, "China has realized that the old development model centered on fossil fuels has reached its end and is no longer suitable for the realities of the 21st century. Therefore, the government is committed to building an 'ecological civilization' while achieving economic, social, and environmental goals - a goal that has been written into the constitution since 2018."

Sam Butler-Sloss from the think tank told Al Jazeera that China produces 60% of the world's wind turbines and 80% of the solar panels, thus driving down costs for all other countries.

She pointed out, "Since 2010, the cost of solar PV modules has fallen by more than 90%... and China accounted for three-quarters of the cumulative solar production during this period."

"Now, the cost of solar PV modules is below 10 cents per watt. The cost of batteries is below $70 per kilowatt-hour. This is sufficient to profoundly change the global energy economy landscape."

The report states that China's decisions are partly driven by economic realities.

Its vast manufacturing sector consumes energy, most of which is imported in the form of oil and natural gas. Based on this, China aims to maintain competitiveness and energy security through self-development.

This has brought significant additional benefits. China has funded the domestic power technology market and increased the growing patent gap with other countries around the world.

In 2020, China accounted for 5% of global energy patent applications. Now, this number has reached 75%.

In driving this transition, China is becoming a hub in the global market supply chain.

"Now, China's manufacturing capacity in solar and battery sectors exceeds global demand," said Butler-Sloss. Unlike China's overinvestment in real estate over the past decade, she believes this bet is successful because batteries and solar panels can be exported.

She said, "Some people use words like oversupply. I think the market growth is more dynamic and responsive. We see oversupply matching the demand in these emerging markets."

Greenhouse gas emissions remain unresolved

China has helped ensure this growth through overseas investments.

She said, "Chinese battery and electric vehicle companies have invested about $80 billion in facilities in emerging markets and around the world. These technologies, expertise, and capital will be used to build industries in different countries."

Last year, China's investment in renewable energy was close to one-third of the global total - $62.5 billion, while Europe and the United States invested $42.6 billion and $40.9 billion respectively. The return on these investments is three times the amount invested.

The Chinese clean energy industry, dominated by the "new three industries" (solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles), is expanding at three times the rate of other economic sectors and contributes $1.9 trillion in output to the Chinese economy.

When former US President Joe Biden allocated billions of dollars in his Inflation Reduction Act to develop solar and wind energy, he restricted these funds to investments within the United States.

Even so, the authors of the Ember think tank article believe that Biden still benefits from China, as Chinese investments have stimulated the development of this industry in other countries.

"If China had not made these investments, what would we see today?" asked editor Richard Black. "Would we see any specific country or region make investments of the same scale?"

"Personally, I don't think we would," said Black. "The Chinese government works with major companies and recently realized there would be a huge export market here and took corresponding strategic investments, combining deployment policies, manufacturing policies, and export policies. I have never seen any other country try to do this."

Europe still has competitiveness in certain indicators. For example, electricity accounts for one-third of China's energy mix, while it is only a quarter in Europe. However, European electricity is cleaner, with 3 gigawatts of renewable energy for every 10 gigawatts of electricity, while China has only 2 gigawatts of renewable energy for every 10 gigawatts of electricity.

Despite massive investments, China's greenhouse gas emissions have not decreased, which is the main goal of the energy transition. According to data from the International Energy Agency, emissions in the EU and the US have been declining since the beginning of the century.

Last year, China and India were the main drivers of the new high of 3.78 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, with China accounting for nearly a third.

Sources: Al Jazeera

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7548134264961778226/

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