China’s Green Triumph

In the United States, the Trump administration is reversing efforts to protect the climate. In Europe, nations grapple with how, and how quickly, to embrace a green future.

At the same time, something remarkable is happening in other parts of the world. Countries with big and quickly growing economies are taking advantage of China’s emergence as a renewable-energy superpower. They are going green in a hurry.

My colleagues Somini Sengupta and Brad Plumer covered this change in their latest story. They wrote a striking paragraph about it:

Countries like Brazil, India and Vietnam are rapidly expanding solar and wind power. Poorer countries like Ethiopia and Nepal are leapfrogging over gasoline-burning cars to battery-powered ones. Nigeria, a petrostate, plans to build its first solar-panel manufacturing plant. Morocco is creating a battery hub to supply European automakers. Santiago, the capital of Chile, has electrified more than half of its bus fleet in recent years.

China makes that possible, exporting solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles all over the developing world while investing billions in factories that make those things in the nations where they are sold.

It won’t solve the problem of climate change, the reporters say. Most countries continue to get most of their energy from fossil fuels. They mine coal, build coal plants and produce oil. China alone emits more greenhouse gases than the United States and the European Union combined. There’s still plenty of smoke in the air.

But the falling price of China’s renewable tech has allowed developing countries to satisfy a larger percentage of their energy needs internally. It reduces their reliance on imported fuel and develops their economies.