Post Reply - Climate collapse

   https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1915582608819577161 or https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1915582608819577161 ;
Danny Haiphong reposted
Arnaud Bertrand
@RnaudBertrand
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This is a truly extraordinary number: according to the latest IRENA report (https://irena.org/News/pressreleases/2025/Mar/Record-Breaking-Annual-Growth-in-Renewable-Power-Capacity…), 64% (almost 2/3rd) of the world's renewable energy added in 2024 was added in China.

At this stage China is almost single-handedly driving the global energy transition.

For comparison the US, the world's second biggest emitter of CO2, added only 7% of global renewable capacity in 2024 and now has only 9% of the world's total renewable capacity to China's 41%. And you can bet that this will get even worse under Trump, who keeps dismissing climate change as a "hoax".

Even if, like Trump, you don't believe in climate change or believe that it isn't man-made, these numbers should make you reflect. 

Why would China put such tremendous efforts into renewable energy? Is it because China is "woke"? Of course not. 

First of all, it helps establish an image of China as a responsible great power because even if you don't personally believe in climate change, 86% of the world's population does (https://ourworldindata.org/climate-change-support…). What do they think when they look at what China does for it vs the US? 

Secondly, there's a big price element to it. Solar electricity for instance is now vastly cheaper than electricity generated from fossil fuel sources. For instance, "solar PV’s global costs in 2023 were 56% lower than fossil fuel and nuclear options" (https://irena.org/News/pressreleases/2024/Sep/Record-Growth-Drives-Cost-Advantage-of-Renewable-Power…). Same thing for onshore wind: it's now 67% lower than fossil-fuel alternatives.

Thirdly and most importantly, there's a strategic aspect here. Fast forward a few years to a world where the US and a few other countries are still clinging to their fossil-fuel powered economies while China dominates clean energy. 

These holdouts would face crushing disadvantages: paying premium prices for increasingly expensive fossil fuels (less demand means higher prices) while China increasingly benefits from the near-zero marginal costs of electricity from its renewable installations (which, once built, produce power without the ongoing fuel expenses that burden fossil fuel plants).

We speak a lot about industrial and manufacturing competitiveness: what do you think that does?

And it's not only prices: this also secures China's energy independence, as well as its economic and technological dominance in what will undoubtedly be the global energy platform of tomorrow. 

Here's another insane number for you: in 2024, 87% of Global South capital expenditure on electricity generation flew into renewable energy (https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/10/Powering_up_the_global_south.pdf…). 

In effect, this places China as the dominant supplier for the energy future of the part of the world that will account for 85% of all new electricity demand over the next few years (https://iea.org/news/growth-in-global-electricity-demand-is-set-to-accelerate-in-the-coming-years-as-power-hungry-sectors-expand…). 

The part of the world that houses the immense majority of humanity, and where billions of people are still gaining access to reliable electricity for the first time.

You don't need to believe in climate change to see the strategic and economic implications of China's approach and, conversely, the immense strategic miscalculation in taking a purely ideological stance against renewable energy development.