ABC News Daily 2025 Picks: How China became a green energy superpower
Dec 30, 2025
Jo Lauder, an ABC climate reporter specializing in energy coverage, dives into China’s dramatic green energy transformation. She highlights how China has become home to half of the world’s solar and wind power despite being the largest greenhouse gas emitter. Lauder explains the country's strategies like the Made in China 2025 plan and massive state investments that support this pivot. She also discusses the paradox of continued coal dependency amidst a robust renewable push and wonders if other nations can replicate this ambitious model.
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Pollution Sparked The Energy Pivot
- China's rapid industrialisation created extreme air pollution that became a health and political crisis.
- That pollution crisis forced Beijing to prioritise cleaning the air and rethinking energy policy.
State-Led Industrial Strategy
- Made in China 2025 reframed manufacturing toward high-end clean technologies like wind, solar, EVs and batteries.
- The state targeted whole supply chains so China could dominate and export clean tech globally.
Unmatched Scale Drives Global Impact
- China now holds roughly half the world's solar, wind and electric vehicles and is building more capacity than the rest of the world combined.
- That scale is accelerating global decarbonisation by rapidly lowering costs and spreading technology.