Journalist Cindy Yu joins Between the Lines host, Tom Switzer, to look at China’s dominance as a global renewables producer in tandem with its lead as the world’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide. Can this contradiction yield a greener future?

Between the Lines, broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

China’s need for energy security means it will not commit to phasing out its reliance on fossil fuels, but rather “phasing down,” says Cindy Yu, China reporter and editor with the London-based Spectator magazine. She points to a combination of factors that have positioned coal-hungry China as the world’s leading producer of green energy technology. Those factors include a consistent and long-term industrial policy buoyed by massive state subsidies (since 2005), local government and private enterprise investment and support, an integrated supply chain, an extensive (existing) manufacturing infrastructure, as well as a huge domestic market it can tap to buy what it makes.

By contrast, says Ms. Yu, Western economies have pushed for net-zero targets and green energy transition without a consistent and coordinated plan to achieve this. Ms. Yu concurs with Probe International’s Patricia Adams’ view that China, like other developed nations, is dependent on fossil fuels for its economic and energy security. A priority, she says, that motivates China’s policy decisions, including its careful positioning around the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars (regions of interest for their oil and gas reserves). Ms. Yu estimates China will draw 30% of its energy mix from renewables by 2025, as the country continues to diversify its supply sources.

Security risk is an energy-related concern across the board, says Ms. Yu, citing electric vehicles as an example (EVs can be remotely turned off by the manufacturer). Currently, China is the largest producer of EVs in the world, but it also shares risk concerns in this regard (see “China Cracks Down on Use of Tesla“; as well as, conversely: “China Had Access to Tesla Employees’ Data“).

To listen to the full conversation between Cindy Yu and Tom Switzer, see here:

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/betweenthelines/how-did-china-corner-the-green-energy-market/102961168

For a round-up of key reports by Probe International on China’s stance as a global climate change leader, see here: