China is rapidly outpacing the rest of the world in the race to deploy renewable energy, with its offshore wind sector standing as a striking exception to a global slowdown. While offshore wind projects in the United States, Europe, and Japan are struggling to stay afloat amid rising costs and waning government support, China has surged ahead, installing an overwhelming 75% of all new offshore wind turbines worldwide in 2025, according to Bloomberg.
This remarkable achievement is just one piece of a much larger story. By the end of 2024, China had already installed twice as many solar panels and wind turbines as every other country combined, as reported by Taz. And in the first half of 2025 alone, the country commissioned as much renewable energy as Germany and the UK together consume in an entire year. The pace is dizzying, and the scale is unprecedented. Yet, it’s not the whole picture.
China’s energy policy is, in many ways, a study in contrasts. On the one hand, the country is racing to expand its renewable energy capacity at a speed and scale unmatched anywhere else. On the other, it remains the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide—and continues to build new coal-fired power plants at a rate not seen in a decade. In the first half of 2025, China added coal plants with a total capacity of 21 gigawatts, the highest number in ten years, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea). This dual approach reflects both the ambitions and anxieties of a nation that is acutely aware of its energy security needs and the urgent threat posed by climate change.
Why this two-step strategy? Chinese economists at Crea offer an explanation: the country needs reliable backup for those inevitable times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind refuses to blow. As much as China is betting on renewables, it can’t afford to let its massive population and sprawling industries go dark. The country’s power grid is outdated and only gradually being modernized, making it hard to transport electricity from regions with a surplus to those with shortages. Storage technologies and new transmission lines are coming, but not fast enough to eliminate the need for coal as a safety net.
“This has been a recurring theme in recent years: Beijing takes two steps forward – only to take one step back,” Taz observed in its August 26, 2025, edition. It’s an ambivalent model—one that is both lauded for its green ambition and criticized for its continued reliance on fossil fuels.
But make no mistake: China’s leadership sees renewable energy as a national priority. President Xi Jinping has made it clear that expanding clean energy is at the top of his agenda. “The further expansion of renewable energies is a top priority,” Xi declared, signaling a seriousness that stands in stark contrast to the approach of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who slowed renewable development and doubled down on nuclear and fossil fuels. While Trump’s administration bet on old energy, Xi set a bold target: China would reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.
Remarkably, China’s greenhouse gas emissions have already been on the decline since March 2024, according to Crea. This is a significant milestone for a country that, for years, has been seen as the world’s single largest polluter. The shift is partly a result of the massive build-out of renewables, which is beginning to bend the emissions curve downward even as coal remains in the mix.
China’s breakneck push for renewables is not just about global image or economic competition—it’s also a matter of survival. The country is feeling the harsh effects of climate change firsthand. In the summer of 2025, droughts threatened crop yields, while southern China faced once-in-a-century rainfall that flooded entire cities. Meanwhile, the north grappled with severe water shortages, exacerbated by the retreat of Himalayan glaciers. The consequences reach far beyond China’s borders, with neighboring nations like India and Bangladesh also at risk from dwindling water supplies.
Despite these challenges, China’s approach has drawn both admiration and skepticism. On the one hand, the numbers are staggering: as of 2025, Chinese installations of solar and wind are not just leading the world—they are reshaping it. Offshore wind, in particular, is booming. According to Bloomberg, installations this year are expected to reach their highest since 2021, with China accounting for about three out of every four turbines placed at sea globally. This is happening even as the sector falters elsewhere, with developers in the U.S., Europe, and Japan struggling to cope with cost overruns and shifting political winds.
On the other hand, critics point to the ongoing expansion of coal as evidence that China is hedging its bets. The country’s outdated grid and lack of adequate storage mean that renewables can’t yet provide the round-the-clock reliability that industry and households demand. “China lacks power lines and storage facilities—in other words, the infrastructure to transport electricity from a region with excess capacity to a neighboring province with insufficient power production,” Taz explained. The government is working to modernize the grid, but progress is incremental.
Still, there’s no denying the seriousness of China’s climate commitments. The country is under intense pressure to act, not just from the international community but from its own citizens, who are living through the consequences of a warming planet. Climate researchers worldwide agree that the stakes couldn’t be higher: addressing climate change is a matter of survival for humanity, and China’s choices will have a profound impact on the global outcome.
For now, China’s renewable energy revolution is both a beacon of hope and a cautionary tale. The country is showing what’s possible when political will, industrial capacity, and a sense of urgency align. Yet its continued reliance on coal and slow progress on grid modernization highlight the complexities of transitioning to a truly clean energy future. As the world watches, China’s next steps—whether forward or back—will shape the fate of the planet for decades to come.
