LASER TALK: What about China?

What about China?

In June 2024, the Rocky Mountain Institute reported that the cleantech revolution is accelerating globally, and China has been declared the world’s first “electrostate.” (1,2) Why? Facing a lack of domestic oil and gas, China is rapidly expanding its electrification efforts. These efforts continue at an unprecedented pace.

In 2025, in just one month (May), China added 119 GW of solar and wind. That is 30% of the entire global nuclear fleet’s nameplate capacity (393.4 GW built over 60 years). And get this… In just five months, China installed 244 GW of solar and wind (3). That is a staggering 62% of nuclear energy’s total nameplate capacity. By September 2025, China had installed more solar energy capacity than the rest of the world combined (4).

Thus, it should not be surprising that the International Energy Agency reported in March 2025 that China had reached its peak oil demand (5) and China’s greenhouse gas emission fell in the first half of 2025 (6).

Lastly, China has been experimenting with carbon pricing since the mid-2010s and launched their national carbon pricing system in 2021 (7).

References

1. Webinar – The Cleantech Revolution  (2024) Rocky Mountain Institute. Kingsmill Bond https://rmi.org/event/webinar-the-cleantech-revolution-eu/
2. X-Change: The Race to the Top (2024) RMI, Strategic Insights,  Kingsmill Bond; Sam Butler-Sloss; Daan Walter: https://rmi.org/insight/x-change-the-race-to-the-top/
3. China Solar and Wind Installations Break More World Records (2025) EcoWatch
   Paige Bennett https://www.ecowatch.com/china-solar-wind-installations-world-records-2025.html
4. H1 2025: China Installs More Solar Than Rest of the World Combined (2025) Electrek
   Michelle Lewis https://electrek.co/2025/09/02/h1-2025-china-installs-more-solar-than-rest-of-the-world-combined/
5. Oil demand for fuels in China has reached a plateau (2025) IEA, Commentary. Ciarán Healy; Rebecca McKimm; Ivo Walinga https://www.iea.org/commentaries/oil-demand-for-fuels-in-china-has-reached-a-plateau
6. Analysis: Record solar growth keeps China’s CO2 falling in first half of 2025 (August 2025) Carbon Brief. Lauri Myllyvirta https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-record-solar-growth-keeps-chinas-co2-falling-in-first-half-of-2025/
7. The development of China’s national carbon market: An overview (2025) Sci Open. Xiliang Zhang, Runxin Yu, Valerie J. Karplus
   https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/ECM.2025.9400015

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