China's green energy surge raises hope on warming.

04 Jul 2023

Wind and solar power are booming in China and may help limit global carbon emissions far faster than expected, according to a new study.Solar panel installations alone are growing at a pace that would increase global capacity by 85% by 2025.The report says the country's green energy targets for 2030 look set to be exceeded five years ahead of schedule.But coal plants are also increasing, partly as backup for all the new wind and solar farms, the authors say China is often seen as the key to the world's efforts to rein in the carbon emissions that are the root cause of climate change.The country is the world's biggest user of coal, mainly for making electricity. The use of coal is responsible for around 69% of China's emissions of carbon dioxide.But this new study shows that China is fast building up capacity to generate power from wind and solar, which could have a significant impact on limiting the impacts of rising temperatures.The research has been carried out by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), an independent research group whose work is often used by the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and governments.The report looks at China's current installed green energy capacity, but also makes projections on what's been announced and in construction over the next two years.It finds that right now China has more solar panels installed in large-scale projects than the rest of the world combined. On wind energy, the country has doubled its capacity since 2017.