Memes

I think it's okay to recognize massive investment in solar panel development and solar power in general as being legitimate. I think it is silly to say it's just for publicity, otherwise the US would have done it too, rather than allow themselves to lose face.

You don't have to like China or the CPC to acknowledge China spending a massive amount of resources on implementing green energy.

Not all fossil fuels are created equal. Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy generated are twice as high for coal as for natural gas, and the air pollution impact is an order of magnitude higher. As such, reigning in coal use is a major ongoing project for China, a country where, as recently as 2007, over 80 percent of generated electricity came from coal sources. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.COAL.ZS?locations=CN

In the 15-year period from 2007 to 2022, coal’s share of the power mix was reduced from 81 percent to 56 percent, (https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-cut-coal-use-share-below-56-2021-2021-04-22/) putting it in the same range as Australia – a country which could and should have begun its low-carbon transition decades ago, and which has a per capita coal production figure eight times higher than China.(https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/coal-prod-per-capita) Various commentators have pointed out that China continues to build new coal-fired power plants; however, these are almost invariably modern, cleaner and more efficient replacements for existing plants.

In 2017, China’s National Energy Administration cancelled plans to build more than 100 coal-fired power plants, in order to divert power generation efforts into the renewable sector. This will eliminate 120 gigawatts of future coal-fired capacity. (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/world/asia/china-coal-power-plants-pollution.html) Beijing closed its last coal-fired plant in 2017.(https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2080270/beijing-shuts-down-its-last-coal-fired-power-plant-part-bid-clear) One particularly symbolic project is a giant floating solar farm – the largest in the world – on top of a former coal mine in Anhui.(https://www.businessinsider.com/china-floating-solar-farm-coal-mine-renewable-energy-2018-1?r=UK) Datong, China’s “coal capital” is seeking to put its coal reserves to better use: producing hydrogen for use in emissions-free hydrogen-powered vehicles and electricity storage.(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201908/25/WS5d6239d5a310cf3e35567b9b.html)

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian reported in July 2022 that:

By the end of last month, the share of coal-fired power in China’s installed power capacity dropped to a historic low of under 50 percent; total emissions of the coal-fired power industries reduced by nearly 90 percent over a decade; coal consumption by power generation units has been slashed, saving over 700 million tonnes of raw coal over the past decade. (https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202207/t20220728_10729508.html)

The drop in coal consumption has already had a noticeable impact in the big cities. The New York Times observed that, in the period from 2014 to 2018, Chinese cities cut concentrations of atmospheric fine particulates by an average of 34 percent.(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/upshot/china-pollution-environment-longer-lives.html) Beijing in the 1990s was among the most polluted cities in the world, but due to a decade-long ‘war on pollution’, its air quality index has improved by 50 percent.(https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/news/pollution-in-beijing-is-down-by-half-since-the-last-olympics-adding-four-years-onto-lives/) In 2019, Beijing dropped out of the list of the 200 most-polluted cities.(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-pollution-beijing/beijing-set-to-exit-list-of-worlds-top-200-most-polluted-cities-data-idUSKCN1VX05Z) Writing in 2012, Martin Jacques talks about China having 16 of the world’s 20 worst-polluted cities. A decade later, only two Chinese cities are on the list. (https://www.hindustantimes.com/environment/these-are-20-most-polluted-cities-in-the-world-rajasthan-city-tops-the-list-101647954069826.html)

Although it will take China many more years to completely phase out coal, it has already announced that it will not finance any new coal-fired power plants abroad. Meanwhile, US-based analysts KJ Noh and Michael Wong note that the bulk of China’s coal plants are now “advanced supercritical or ultra-supercritical plants, which means they are much more efficient and cleaner than many of the industrial-era legacy plants of the US”.(https://asiatimes.com/2021/11/china-offers-solutions-to-climate-change/)

While reducing its use of coal, China is rapidly becoming the first “renewable energy superpower”,(https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2019/01/11/china-renewable-energy-superpower/?sh=d00df01745a2) accounting for 46 percent of new solar and wind power generating capacity in 2021.(https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/state-of-renewable-energy-2022/) International energy analyst Tim Buckley observes that China is the world leader in “wind and solar installation, in wind and solar manufacturing, in electric vehicle production, in batteries, in hydro, in nuclear, in ground heat pumps, in grid transmission and distribution, and in green hydrogen.” In summary, “they literally lead the world in every zero-emissions technology today.”(https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/what-if-china-saved-the-world-and-nobody-noticed-20220818-p5bavz.html)

China is responsible for around a third of global renewable energy investment, and 28 percent of its electricity is already generated from renewable sources (compared to 20 percent for the US).(https://www.grid.news/story/global/2022/08/17/china-is-beating-the-us-in-clean-energy-can-america-catch-up-the-race-in-five-charts/) Out of 12.7 million jobs in the renewables industry worldwide, 42 percent (over five million) are in China.(https://english.news.cn/20220922/45a980ba9b5241699694b1f29d1f951e/c.html) The Chinese government has set itself the target of getting renewable energy sources (including solar, wind, nuclear and hydropower) to 33 percent of its total energy mix by 2025.(https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/china-says-third-electricity-will-come-renewables-by-2025-2022-06-01/)Non-fossil energy sources are set to supply 50% of China’s electric power generation by 2030. (https://www.brookings.edu/2018/05/18/utility-of-renewable-energy-in-chinas-low-carbon-transition/)

Quoted from "The east is still red".

parenti quote

I am completely sure that China is indeed spending god knows how many millions in building more solar farms in a year than the US has built in their entire history so people like Jake from Minnesota can be convinced that China is actually a pretty cool place.

Do you people ever listen to yourselves?

The fact is, their power demands are rising, so they invest in and build coal power plants as much as no other country.

Of course, that's unfortunate. I'm critical of them and they could be doing better. However, have you considered why? It's western factories that go to China and produce our goods. The West's carbon footprint is effectively laundered through China. Also, speak for yourself. Genocide Joe over here keeps approving oil pipelines. Yet you set your malaise on China. They and the EU also keep increasing their military budgets sharply, and the US MIC has long been the greatest contributor) to the climate crisis.

I’m pretty sure it’s just for publicity

I love that your source here is nothing more than intuition.

So please remove this china-greenwashing post,

Lol, you've given me no reason to. While the West fails to meet it's pitiful Paris Climate Accords goals, China has more ambitious goals and is already far ahead of them.

It’s just a horrible place

Again, no evidence, absurd reasoning. If China's such a bad place why have they eliminated poverty and why are chinese living longer, healthier, and happier than USians? Why are at least 95% of Chinese happy with their government?

Edit: I somehow forgot to mention: how can China's green energy be just for show when the US has recently bemoaned their overcapacity?