In a bold commitment to renewable energy, China has invested an impressive $940 billion in clean energy initiatives in 2024, solidifying its position as a global leader in the transition from fossil fuels.
This investment brings China’s total spending on clean energy close to the $1.12 trillion allocated worldwide for fossil fuels, according to a recent analysis by the U.K.-based research organization Carbon Brief.
Despite facing economic challenges, including a slowdown in growth within the green energy sector, China’s investment underscores its pivotal role in reshaping the global energy landscape.
The analysis reveals that while growth in clean energy investment dropped from 40% in 2023 to just 7% in 2024—largely due to overcapacity—the sector remains a vital economic driver, contributing 10% to China’s GDP, up from 9% the previous year.
More than half of the recent investments stemmed from China’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV), battery, and solar industries. The clean energy sector’s growth rate outpaced that of the overall economy, increasing threefold. However, the sector’s contribution to GDP saw a decline, falling from 40% in 2023 to 26% in 2024, attributed to deflation and significant drops in the prices of renewable energy equipment, particularly solar panels and batteries.
The report highlights the importance of clean energy industries—including electric vehicles, batteries, renewable manufacturing, power generation, railways, electric grids, storage, and energy efficiency—despite the cooling growth observed in these sectors.
In a notable achievement, the China Green Metal Certification Center (CGMC) projected that low-carbon aluminium production is set to reach approximately 2.75 million tonnes by the end of 2024, accounting for around 7% of the country’s total aluminium output. This figure is expected to rise to 4 million tonnes, driven by the growing demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, as China produces 80% of the world’s solar panels.
China’s electric vehicle industry has emerged as the largest contributor to the nation’s GDP, generating RMB 3 trillion from EV and hybrid production, alongside RMB 1.4 trillion from factory investments. Additionally, the expansion of charging infrastructure contributed 122 billion yuan to the economy. The solar sector also made significant contributions, with approximately USD $384 billion added to GDP, although manufacturing investments have declined due to falling solar panel prices.
Researchers anticipate a continued surge in clean power investments through 2025, urging the establishment of more ambitious targets for the 2026–2030 plan to sustain the momentum of clean energy deployment. However, concerns are mounting over China’s renewed coal-fired power capacity expansion, which saw the initiation of 94.5 gigawatts (GW) of new projects in 2024, marking the highest level of coal power expansion in a decade.
This rapid buildout, driven by substantial investments from the coal mining sector, raises questions about China’s commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels. Analysts believe that, despite the increase in coal reliance, the country’s massive clean energy capacity additions will eventually reduce coal’s share in electricity generation.
As China strives toward its “dual-carbon” goals—peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060—the challenge remains: can clean energy growth outpace coal reliance in time? A joint report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) emphasizes that the resurgence in coal-fired power plant construction poses significant obstacles to China’s clean energy progress.
