Coal Is Rising in China's Clean Energy Transition

China’s energy transition is entering a more complex phase than commonly assumed. While the country is rapidly scaling up renewable energy – China now leads the world in both investment and deployment – coal production and coal power investment are also increasing.

This contradiction reflects a deeper structural reality: China is not moving from coal to renewables in a linear transition. Instead, it is attempting to expand both simultaneously, balancing decarbonization goals with rising electricity demand and system reliability constraints. China’s renewable expansion has reached unprecedented levels. In 2024, China’s clean energy investment exceeded $625 billion, nearly double the level in 2015.

Read more