China’s rapid expansion of renewable energy use and sweeping electrification across its economy is reshaping global energy dynamics,a research report released on Tuesday by an international energy think tank said,adding this shift is creating conditions for a structural decline in fossil fuel use in the world.
China’s rapid electrification and surge in solar and wind generation are set to reduce fossil fuel use,according to Ember’s report released on September 9,2025.Source:screenshot of Ember’s report
The report,China Energy Transition Review 2025 is released by Ember based in the UK.The report said that accelerating deployment of renewables,grids and storage in China,combined with electrification of transport,buildings and manufacturing,are rapidly bringing China towards a peak in energy-related fossil fuel use,while helping reduce costs and accelerate uptake of clean electro-technologies in other countries.
The report highlights that“China is the biggest investor in clean energy worldwide,spending US$625 billion in 2024–31 percent of the global total of US$2,033 billion.”
It adds that investment and production in clean renewable energy contributed 13.6 trillion yuan(US$1.9 trillion)to the Chinese economy in 2024–“a sum equivalent to about one-10th of China’s GDP,or the total GDP of Australia–and the sector is growing three times faster than the Chinese economy”.
“China has opened the door to a new energy future by building electro-technologies at vast scale,slashing costs and raising the ceiling of possibility,”the report noted.“The consequences reach far beyond China’s borders,enabling the emerging market energy leapfrog and swinging global fossil fuel demand from unrelenting growth to the brink of structural decline”.
According to Ember’s report,“91 percent of newly-commissioned wind and solar facilities globally are cheaper than the cheapest available form of fossil fuel generation.With Chinese factories producing about 60 percent of the world’s wind turbines and 80 percent of solar panels,it is predominantly Chinese policy and investments that have driven the global price reductions”.
If Beijing is competing for the future of energy,“its main rival would be the US”--the world’s largest oil and gas producer and exporter,said the report.The Trump administration rolled back nearly all federal support for renewables and pressed other countries to buy American fossil fuels as part of trade deals,even as the declining cost of clean energy gives many nations—especially less developed ones—strong incentives to cut reliance on fossil fuels,the New York Times reported.
According to Ember’s report,electrification is advancing fastest in countries from Mexico and Chile to Egypt,Bangladesh and Vietnam,with Chinese technologies playing a key role in Asia.It noted that electricity-first industrialization is now radiating from eastern China to Southeast Asia,with nations such as Vietnam,Laos,Malaysia and Bangladesh rapidly increasing the share of clean electricity in their final energy use.
Across Africa,solar panel imports from China rose 60 percent in the last 12 months,and 20 African countries imported a record amount over that period,the Ember report said in another report recently,the New York Times reported.
The report underlines China’s leadership in green innovation.“If‘made in China’captured the country’s role in the 2010s,‘invented in China’increasingly captures its role today.China has become the energy transition’s science laboratory as well as its factory.China’s share of patent applications globally in clean energy technologies has risen from around 5 percent in 2000 to around 75 percent in 2022.”
“China’s transition is pretty much unstoppable now,and going back just makes no sense,”the report concluded,citing the rapid scale-up of clean energy and strong public support for the transition.“The message to the world is clear:a genuine transition is possible,but it takes careful planning,sound policy,and,most importantly,sustained commitment”.
Lin Boqiang,director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University,told Global Times that China’s energy structure of“scarce oil,limited gas and abundant coal”makes the clean energy transition inevitable and urgent too.
“Developing renewables is not only about green growth,it is also about national security by reducing external dependence,”Lin said,adding that recent hydropower projects and deep-sea oil and gas exploration reflect how advanced technologies and strong policy support are accelerating the shift.
Lin noted that China is now deepening clean energy cooperation with BRICS and Belt and Road partner countries.“Joint projects in solar,wind,hydropower and grid connectivity are improving energy security for partner countries while sharing China’s technologies and experience.This is China’s contribution to the world’s green transition,”he said.
China shows strong momentum in developing clean renewable energy backed up with advanced technologies.The country on Monday released a plan to speed up the integration of artificial intelligence(AI)into its energy sector,in order to bolster energy security,improving energy efficiency,and advancing the country's green,low-carbon transition.
The plan calls for using AI technology to improve state grid safety,green renewable energy integration,and energy efficiency through smarter forecasting,more automated planning,intelligent construction management,while enhancing AI-assisted decision-making to ensure safe,reliable,and low-carbon operation across energy generation,load,and storage.
