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China’s green development is both anti-imperialist and socialist

Why is it China, and not one of the Western capitalist powers, that’s leading the global green industrial revolution? In 2023, China produced over 80 percent of the world’s solar panels and 60 percent of its electric vehicles. In the first half of 2025, China’s increase in renewable energy generation exceeded that of all other countries combined.

Such accomplishments are not accidental, nor are they a function of the ‘free market’. Rather, they are the product of a socialist developmental state that has, over decades, subordinated capital to social objectives – and in doing so, has transformed the global prospects for a sustainable future.

In this important contribution to the Journal of International Solidarity, A Shantha provides a rigorous political-economic analysis of how and why
China achieved this green industrial revolution, and what it means for the rest of the world.

The argument cuts to the heart of the debate about China’s economic system. As the author puts it: “Put simply, capitalism is the rule of capital. In a capitalist system, social objectives are subordinated to private capital accumulation. In China’s system, the opposite is true – capital accumulation is subordinated to broader social objectives.”

Through five-year planning, state ownership of the commanding heights, technology transfer mandates, the strategic use of subsidies and more, China’s government has been able to construct entire industries from scratch – not because the market demanded it, but because the projects of energy sovereignty, industrialisation and ecological sustainability required it.

Crucially, the author argues that this internal socialist orientation is inseparable from China’s anti-imperialist character. By achieving energy
sovereignty and technological sovereignty, China has directly undermined the mechanisms through which Western imperialism perpetuates uneven
development across the Global South. An energy-independent China cannot be strangled by dollar-denominated oil markets. A technologically sovereign China cannot be contained by Western export controls.

And the implications extend beyond China’s borders. China has now “done the heavy lifting of developing the cutting-edge of green technologies
that no longer have to be ‘discovered’, but can instead be engaged with commercially or through other forms of economic cooperation between
countries.” The dramatic reduction in the cost of solar panels globally is one direct consequence – a gift to every developing nation seeking a
sustainable path forward.

The article concludes:

While Western capitalism’s drive toward uneven development – necessarily involving the absolute cheapening, wasting, and violent destruction of human lives and the natural environment – is what has caused ecological breakdown in the first instance, it is likely no coincidence that socialist China is at the vanguard of developing the prerequisites for a sustainable, ecological civilisation that has major positive implications for the rest of humanity and the planet.

Since the turn of the century, China has been undergoing its own green industrial revolution. In 2023, China was responsible for the production of over 80% of the world’s solar panels and 60% of the world’s electric vehicles.¹ China’s domestic New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) — referring to battery/pure electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel-cell electric vehicles (of which pure electric vehicles are now the most common) — make up more than 90% of sales, compared to the 50% market share held by gas-powered Chinese-branded vehicles.² In the first half of 2025, China’s increase in renewable energy generation exceeded that of all other countries combined, with solar power in China accounting for 55% of the global increase in solar output, and wind power in China accounting for 82% of the global increase in wind power output.³

In our era of exponential ecological decline and potential collapse, why hasn’t the Western world — supposedly the vanguard of capitalist ‘innovation’ — been able to make even meagre progress on this question?

How is it that the political and economic system of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was the one decisive in producing such world-changing outcomes?

The brief answers to these questions lie, first, in the fact that sovereignty — that is, resistance against capitalism’s tendency toward uneven development on a world scale — was a primary factor in pursuing this green development trajectory. And, second, that the pursuit of this sovereign development trajectory within a hostile imperialist world-system was only internally possible through the subordination and disciplining of capital to wider social objectives set out by China’s developmental state led by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Sovereignty within the Capitalist World-System

The history of capitalist development is one of imposing — via imperialism — uneven development wherein core economies accumulate capital by draining wealth from imperial peripheries (exemplified by Britain’s extraction from India) producing stark disparities in productive capacity.⁴ In response to this, peripheral states pursue combined development to resist this dynamic, historically by mobilizing the state to build domestic industry and reclaim sovereign productive capacities. While combined development initially took capitalist forms as countries like the US and Germany used their state for infant industry development, this struggle to wrest productive capacity away from the polarizing tendency of capitalism increasingly adopted socialist forms after 1917 — most notably with the Russian and Chinese revolutions.⁵ What is clear from this is that the nature of combined development is closely linked to the question of national sovereignty, and that the (developmental) state has historically been used in pursuit of those two goals.

Upon founding the PRC in 1949, the CPC confronted a series of challenges: a distorted economy shaped over a century by foreign aggression, a US-led trade embargo, American aggression on its northeastern flank in Korea, and acute industrial underdevelopment. Thus, industrialization and sovereignty became intertwined priorities.

Nearly eight decades after the establishment of the PRC, it is clear that the state and the Communist Party continue to prioritize the mutually reinforcing imperatives of industrialization and sovereignty. Many point to the unleashing of the capital relation by reforms following 1978 as the definitive driver of Chinese industrialization.⁶ This is certainly true but the achievements of the post-1978 period are directly predicated on the developmental strides made between 1949 and 1976 (the ‘Mao period’) — namely the eradication of feudalism via land reform, human capital investment via education and welfare, and import-substitution industrialization.⁷

Through the pre- and post-reform development strategies, national sovereignty against imperialism has remained a core objective of the state throughout. This logic — of industry serving the goal of national sovereignty — continues to be apparent in the development of China’s green industries (in this article, NEVs and renewables).

The State-Led Development of China’s Green Industries

How did China mobilize the state to create the success of the NEV and renewable energy sectors?

In both these sectors, the state played an active role in:

strategic and long-term national planning;
the construction of markets (including both stimulating demand, and also fostering the development of the supply chain);
steering and disciplining markets;
knowledge production; and
technological upgrading.

The Chinese state does not only include the central government — even though it plays a major role in the development of a given industry — but also provincial and local governments who are chiefly responsible for the implementation of nationally-set policies, and whose officials must — alongside this — balance the considerations of their own respective constituencies, including local firms and workers.⁸ This means that the state-led development of China’s green industries is the result of complex interactions between different levels of government.

China’s NEV Sector

China’s NEV sector is the product of over 20 years of strategic, long-sighted planning.

2001-2005: The 10th Five-Year Plan launched the “863 Program,” allocating 2 billion RMB for NEV research and development (R&D) by manufacturers, universities, and research institutes.⁹
2010: NEVs were designated a strategic emerging industry
2012: ‘Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan’;
- The prioritization of pure electric drive technology (as opposed to that of hybrid vehicles) and introduction of purchase subsidies;
- Stricter emission standards for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles; and
- Charging infrastructure mandates.¹⁰
2015: “Made in China 2025” strategy identified NEVs as one of ten high-tech manufacturing sectors that China aims to promote as a ‘dominant global player’, focusing on:
- Low-carbon electrification;
- Digitization; and
- Autonomous driving.¹¹

More recent advances in the NEV sector are undoubtedly built on the foundations laid by the 1994 Automotive Industry Policy, which leveraged China’s massive market access to secure technology transfer from foreign automotive companies via joint ventures (JVs) with state-owned firms.¹² This 1994 policy also gradually introduced more stringent local content requirements (i.e. government-mandated requirements that a certain percentage of inputs are locally derived), thus allowing the automotive supply chain in China to proliferate and modernize.¹³ The combination of these two factors — technology transfer and the shaping up of the automotive supply chain — allowed the emergence of indigenous automakers (like Chery) in the domestic market by 2004.

However, given the continued dominance of foreign auto brands (such as Volkswagen and General Motors) due to their name brand recognition, one of the few ways domestic auto firms would be able to compete would actually be to “leapfrog” into NEVs to bypass the ICE dominance of foreign auto firms.¹⁴ And given state policy and the market signals it produced, these domestic auto firms were well predisposed to doing so.

State intervention operated on both the supply and demand sides of the market. Supply-side support included:

An estimated US$25 billion in R&D subsidies between 2009–2023; as well as
Local municipal subsidies covering 30% of charging station construction costs in Shenzhen and Suzhou (2014–2015).¹⁵

Demand-side measures featured:

The “Ten Cities, Thousand Vehicles” program (2009) for public fleet procurement (later expanded to 25 cities);
Consumer subsidies up to 60,000 RMB per purchase of a pure EV (between 2010–2020).¹⁶
The granting of preferential license plates, preferential road access, and free parking for NEVs in cities like Beijing and Shanghai.¹⁷

In addition to supply- and demand-side supports from the state (in different forms of subsidies), the NEV sector has also developed qualitatively due to state policy that fosters innovation and technological upgrading.

Beyond just R&D subsidies, consumer subsidies for NEV purchases were made to vary by the driving range of different NEVs (i.e. how many kilometers can be travelled on one full charge of battery). Higher driving range vehicles were subsidized to a greater extent than lower range vehicles, and from 2014 onward, each year saw a progressive reduction in subsidies; this catalyzed automakers to innovate and engage in technological upgrading to maximize their production of NEVs that would receive the greatest subsidies.¹⁸

After progressively reducing national subsidies over the years, by 2020, purchase subsidies were replaced by a dual-credit policy requiring automakers to offset ICE emissions with NEV production credits — that is, the policy essentially regulated that a certain proportion of NEVs (relative to ICE vehicles) must be maintained by automakers in the Chinese market. Foreign firms — typically laggards in NEV output — were required to purchase credits from Chinese firms or form JVs, effectively transferring the burden of subsidizing the sector away from the state and toward foreign competitors, all while enabling further technology transfer.¹⁹

Innovation was further spurred by the “catfish effect” of Tesla’s inclusion and initial dominance in the market and a shift toward “manufacturing + service” models integrating smart driving technologies, thus also attracting tech capital.²⁰

As a result of these developmental state policies, the NEV sector grew from a market penetration rate of just over 1% in 2015 to just under 26% in 2022, reaching the central government’s target for 2025 three years early.²¹

China’s Renewables Sector

Just like the NEV sector, China’s renewables sector was a product of long-term planning and sustained developmental state coordination. The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) designated wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies as strategic industries, complemented by the Renewable Energy Law of 2006 establishing four mechanisms:

National renewable targets;
Mandatory grid connection and purchase of renewable power (whereby grid companies — that are largely state-owned — are obligated to guarantee a market for power generation companies producing renewable energy, which are also largely state-owned);
Feed-in tariffs (whereby grid companies pay an above-market rate to power companies); and
A cost-sharing mechanism (charged on end-users of electricity), including a specific fund for renewable energy development.²²

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) coordinates sector development, leveraging state dominance in power generation and grid operations —primarily through state-owned enterprises (SOEs) —while private firms concentrate in manufacturing and innovation.²³ In this way, private actors are being made to serve the state sector, at the same time as pursuing opportunities for profit. SOEs face binding renewable capacity quotas with penalties for non-compliance, allowing the state to steer sectoral development in a given direction.

The state also played an important role in forging connections with academia and research institutes for knowledge production in the renewable energy sector. For example, the NDRC collaborated with research institutions, such as the China Association for Science and Technology and Jiangsu’s provincial Energy Research Society, to draft energy conservation strategies and execute technology projects.²⁴

Wind power scaled rapidly after the 2002 National Wind Concession Program introduced competitive bidding for the construction of larger-scale farms, which were largely being approved by local governments through the 2000s.²⁵ Critical to the development of a domestic supply chain of wind power manufacturing equipment were a 70% local content requirement (from 2004) and a 17% import tariff on preassembled turbines (from 2007), which spurred technology transfer. For example, Chinese wind power heavyweight Goldwind licensed designs from German firms Jacobs, RE Power, and Vensys.²⁶ Further, bidding criteria evolved from simply ‘lowest price wins’ to progressively account for domestic manufacturing content and technical capability.²⁷ Thus, overall, local content policies, technology transfer, protective tariffs, and the growing stringency and sophistication of bidding requirements allowed the domestic supply chain for wind power equipment to more fully take shape in China during the 2000s, allowing Chinese wind power companies to “[move] quickly up the technological ladder, [win] local market share and, as the sector matured, [strengthen] global competitiveness”.²⁸

Solar development initially differed from the trajectory of wind power development: pre-2009 growth was export-driven (delivering to markets in the global North, primarily Europe), privately-led, and minimally state-supported.²⁹ From 2006, firms purchased turnkey production lines to scale manufacturing, while over 60% of solar company executives in China had studied or worked abroad, facilitating North-to-South knowledge transfer in the sector.³⁰ The 2008–09 financial crisis and subsequent 2011 EU/US ‘anti-dumping’ probes triggered a pivot to the Chinese domestic market, given the collapse of Northern markets where PV cells were traditionally being sold. In 2011, a feed-in tariff catalyzed a 500% surge in PV cell installations that year; growth accelerated further after 2013 when local governments gained approval authority for solar projects.³¹

These coordinated policies yielded dramatic results: by 2025, China accounted for 55% of global solar power growth and 82% of wind power expansion, cementing its renewable energy leadership through developmental state orchestration of markets, technology transfer, and industrial upgrading.³²

Green Industrialization, Sovereignty, and Socialism

China’s green development is both anti-imperialist and socialist. Let us first look at how it is anti-imperialist. It is anti-imperialist in two ways — in its pursuit of 1) energy sovereignty and 2) technological sovereignty.

Energy Sovereignty

The Chinese government views the development of green industries as an important part of guaranteeing national energy sovereignty and security — these connections are explicitly made in state documents.³³

Though coal still accounts for approximately 54% of China’s energy consumption, it has come with less-than-desirable consequences, including severe air pollution, which only recently has been reducing. The primary alternative to coal (discounting renewables for now) has been oil and gas, which — though only making up about 27% of China’s total energy consumption — sees an external procurement rate of 72%.³⁴ This means that 72% of oil consumed in China is imported from abroad, amounting to a notable energy vulnerability. In 2015, around 80% of China’s oil consumption was used by vehicles.³⁵

Given that coal-based development causes serious ecological damage, and an extensive reliance on foreign-imported oil and gas poses energy security vulnerabilities, it was squarely in the interest of China’s national energy sovereignty that the state rapidly develop and scale up both the renewable energy sector as well as the NEV sector. Today, China’s energy self-sufficiency rate stands at about 85%, reflecting a deliberate shift away from ecologically damaging coal and geopolitically vulnerable fossil fuel imports.³⁶

China’s growing energy sovereignty means that it has deprived Western imperialism of a crucial point of leverage in determining China’s developmental trajectory. In other words, access to energy is decreasingly a means through which the West can attempt to de-develop China, as it does with the rest of the global South by linking the US dollar to oil purchases, therefore constraining the fiscal space of many governments across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Samir Amin listed ‘Five Monopolies of the Center’ which are, briefly put, responsible for the continued underdevelopment of the South and overdevelopment of the North, the third of which is the global North’s ‘monopolistic access to the planet’s natural resources’ — that is, the North’s monopolistic access to the earth’s energy resources.³⁷ China’s energy sovereignty directly undermines this monopoly, thus structurally threatening capitalist-imperialism’s drive toward uneven development at a world scale.

Technological Sovereignty

Beyond energy sovereignty, China’s green development prioritized technological sovereignty by indigenizing production.

China’s developmental state actively shaped end-to-end domestic supply chains through local content requirements, JVs (facilitating technology transfer), extensive R&D funding, and the strategic and dynamic use of subsidies. China’s NEV sector, for instance, produced a “self-sufficient and controllable supply chain, without any chokepoints in the supply of critical components that could be constrained by other countries.”³⁸

Crucial to indigenizing production is indigenizing production technologies. This emphasis on indigenizing production is referred to by Chu Wan-wen as the ‘catch-up consensus’ — that is, that production in China should strive to catch up with that of the global North and that it should be indigenized.³⁹ Meng Jie & Zhang Zebin argue that this catch-up consensus is in fact the ‘core of the CPC’s ideology’:

Lu Feng [Emeritus Professor of Economics and former Deputy Dean at Peking University’s National School of Development] has pointed out a deeply rooted political correctness in China about the need for technology to be primarily developed independently in order to be regarded as an outstanding achievement. This stems from the fact that the CPC relied on the popular demand for independence to seize power, and that political independence was a pre-condition for establishing China’s industrial system. Therefore, whenever industrial development faces fundamental strategic choices, the CPC’s ideology will guide policies back toward independence.⁴⁰

This once again reinforces that, for the CPC, industrialization (and the technological indigenization implied therein) and national sovereignty were dual imperatives intertwined with one another since the establishment of the PRC in 1949 continuing until today. China’s technological sovereignty undermines the global North’s monopoly over advanced technologies, therefore also undermining the structure of capitalist-imperialism by resisting its world-systemic drive toward uneven development.⁴¹

Socialist-Oriented Green Development

China’s green industrialization — with sovereignty as a central consideration — depends to a high degree on its ability to ‘govern capital’, both foreign and domestic. In both the NEV and renewables sectors, capital was made to serve national goals set by the government through a combination of carrots and sticks.

It would be incorrect to identify the use of a market economy in China’s developmental trajectory and reductively equate it with (state) capitalism. Put simply, capitalism is the rule of capital — both in particular countries and at a world scale. In a capitalist system, social objectives (such as creating entirely new green industries of the future or reversing severe air pollution via automobile electrification) are subordinated to private capital accumulation. In China’s system, the opposite is true — capital accumulation is subordinated to broader social objectives. This is characteristic of how the CPC understands its own economic system: as a ‘socialist market economy’. As part of this socialist market economy, the commanding heights of the economy (finance, telecommunications, public utilities, infrastructure, etc.) remain in the hands of the state and thus can be steered in favour of social objectives. For China’s Party-State, there is a particular logic in governing capital — this is encapsulated in Meng & Zhang’s concept of ‘constructive markets’:

Constructive markets in the socialist market economy have two main characteristics. First, the state assumes the task of constructing markets on both the supply and demand sides, often acting as a special agent embedded in the market in various ways to continuously guide market development and coordinate the division of labour. Second, the state’s development strategy introduces a use value goal into the market which interacts with the exchange value objectives pursued by enterprises, placing the former in a relatively dominant position.⁴²

The Chinese developmental state governs capital by constraining enterprises’ ‘exchange value objectives’ — the profit motive — within a broader framework of national developmental goals based on ‘use value’. This is largely by using regulatory tools. Foreign automakers were required to form JVs with domestic firms (capped at 50% foreign ownership) to access China’s vast market, facilitating technology transfer. Later, the dual-credit policy disciplined laggard foreign firms into potentially subsidizing domestic NEV producers or forming new JVs to offset negative credits.⁴³ Similarly, the 70% local content requirements and 17% tariffs on imported wind turbines placed constraints on capital that forced it to pursue technological upgrading.⁴⁴

Therefore, an internal socialist orientation — one that subordinates capital to broader ecologically sustainable and people-centered social objectives — is actually what enables a sovereign development path in China that is able to resist capitalist-imperialism’s drive toward uneven development.

Concluding Remarks

We are currently in a transition from capitalism towards socialism.⁴⁵ Relatedly, Marx wrote:

At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or . . . with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces, these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution.⁴⁶

Our current moment of global capitalist crisis and decay is exactly resonant with Marx’s description of the conflict between capitalist social relations and our societies’ productive forces. Capitalist social relations are currently acting as a fetter on — or blocking — the further development of the productive forces in such a direction that can even begin to address the central crisis of our time: capitalist-induced ecological breakdown. It is precisely for this reason that the Western capitalist powers have been unable to innovate and sufficiently scale up green technologies to meet the needs of our moment.

Instead, it is China — whose social revolution (gestured at in the Marx quote) is ongoing — that has begun to break capitalist-imperialism’s polarizing dynamic and, in this context, has been able to innovate, scale up, and widely adopt new green productive forces.⁴⁷

This green revolution initiated by China has major global significance given that — through its investments in R&D and technological upgrading — China has now done the heavy lifting of developing the cutting-edge of green technologies that now no longer have to be ‘discovered,’ but can instead now (in most cases) be engaged with commercially or through other forms of economic cooperation between countries. Also the rapid development of China’s solar industry and the corresponding magnitude of its productive output have driven the cost of PVs down globally.⁴⁸ These have major implications for other global South countries looking to pursue alternative development paths that are both ecologically sustainable and that do not further indebt them.

While Western capitalism’s drive toward uneven development — necessarily involving the absolute cheapening, wasting, and violent destruction of human lives and the natural environment — is what has caused ecological breakdown in the first instance, it is likely no coincidence that socialist China is at the vanguard of developing the prerequisites for a sustainable, ecological civilization that has major positive implications for the rest of humanity and the planet.

[1] Ji Siqi, “China’s new green-transition guidelines show how the embattled industry will power on,” South China Morning Post (Hong Kong, China), Aug. 12, 2024. https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3274218/chinas-new-green-transition-guidelines-show-how-embattled-industry-will-power. ↩︎

[2] Godfrey Yeung, “‘Made in China 2025’: The development of a new energy vehicle industry in China,” Area Development and Policy 4, no. 1 (2019): 46. ↩︎

[3] “China Steps Up as the Adult in the Room on Climate,” The China Academy, October 10, 2025, https://thechinaacademy.org/china-steps-up-as-the-adult-in-the-room-on-climate/. ↩︎

[4] Radhika Desai, Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy (New York: Routledge, 2022). ↩︎

[5] Desai, Capitalism, Coronavirus and War. ↩︎

[6] It is important to note that it is not the unleashing of the capital relation in an unguarded way and according to neoliberal logic that occurred in China that was responsible for industrialization, but rather the unleashing of capital within a broader social framework that prioritized holistic national development (Kadri, 2020; Lauesen, 2024). ↩︎

[7] Ali Kadri, “Neoliberalism vs. China as a Model for the Developing World,” The IDEAs Working Paper Series 1 (2020). ↩︎

[8] Chu Wan-wen, “Industry policy with Chinese characteristics: a multi-layered model,” China Economic Journal 10, no. 3 (2017); Meng Jie and Zhang Zibin, “Industrial Policy with Chinese Characteristics: The Political Economy of China’s Intermediary Institutions,” Wenhua Zongheng: A Journal of Contemporary Chinese Thought 3, no. 1 (2025). ↩︎

[9] Liu Yingqi and Ari Kokko, “Who does what in China’s new energy vehicle industry?,” Energy Policy 57 (2013): 22. ↩︎

[10] Feng Kaidong and Chen Junting, “A New Machine to Change the World? The Rise of China’s New Energy Vehicle Industry and its Global Implications,” Wenhua Zongheng: A Journal of Contemporary Chinese Thought 2, no. 2 (2024): 35.; Alexandre De Podestá Gomes, Robert Pauls, and Tobias ten Brink, “Industrial policy and the creation of the electric vehicles market in China: Demand structure, sectoral complementarities and policy coordination,” Cambridge Journal of Economics 47, no.1 (2023). ↩︎

[11] Yeung, ‘Made in China 2025’, 44. ↩︎

[12] Gregory Thomas Chin, China’s Automotive Modernization: The Party-State and Multinational Corporations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).; Chu, Industry policy with Chinese characteristics. ↩︎

[13] Chin, China’s Automotive Modernization. ↩︎

[14] Feng & Chen, A New Machine to Change the World?. ↩︎

[15] Stephen Ezell, How Innovative Is China in the Electric Vehicle and Battery Industries? (China Innovation Series), Information Technology & Innovation Foundation – Hamilton Center on Industrial Strategy (2024); Gomes et al., Industrial policy and the creation of the electric vehicles market in China. ↩︎

[16] Feng & Chen, A New Machine to Change the World?.; Liu & Kokko, Who does what in China’s new energy vehicle industry?. ↩︎

[17] Gomes et al., Industrial policy and the creation of the electric vehicles market in China.; Yeung, ‘Made in China 2025’. ↩︎

[18] Yeung, ‘Made in China 2025’. ↩︎

[19] Feng & Chen, A New Machine to Change the World?.; Yeung, ‘Made in China 2025’. ↩︎

[20] Feng & Chen, A New Machine to Change the World?. ↩︎

[21] Ibid. ↩︎

[22] Joanna I. Lewis, Cooperating for the Climate: Learning from International Partnerships in China’s Clean Energy Sector (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2023).; Sara Schuman, Improving China’s Existing Renewable Energy Legal Framework: Lessons from the International and Domestic Experience, Natural Resources Defense Council (2010), https://www.nrdc.cn/Public/uploads/2016-12-03/5842d7a44bfa2.pdf. ↩︎

[23] Geoffrey C. Chen and Charles Lees, “Growing China’s renewables sector: a developmental state approach,” New Political Economy 21, no. 6 (2016). ↩︎

[24] Chen & Lees, Growing China’s renewables sector, 581. ↩︎

[25] Marius Korsnes, “The emergence of China’s wind and solar industries,” in Wind and Solar Energy Transition in China (Routledge, 2019).; Chu, Industry policy with Chinese characteristics. ↩︎

[26] Chen & Lees, Growing China’s renewables sector, 578. ↩︎

[27] Korsnes, The emergence of China’s wind and solar industries, 72. ↩︎

[28] Chen & Lees, Growing China’s renewables sector, 578. ↩︎

[29] Lewis, Cooperating for the Climate; Korsnes, The emergence of China’s wind and solar industries. ↩︎

[30] Lewis, Cooperating for the Climate, 34. ↩︎

[31] Korsnes, The emergence of China’s wind and solar industries. ↩︎

[32] China Steps Up as the Adult in the Room on Climate, The China Academy. ↩︎

[33] China’s Energy Transition [中华人民共和国国务院新闻办公室], The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China (2024), http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/zfbps_2279/202408/t20240829_860523.html. ↩︎

[34] “China’s Energy Security Realities and Green Ambitions,” The China Academy, July 30, 2025, https://thechinaacademy.org/chinas-energy-security-realities-and-green-ambitions/. ↩︎

[35] Yeung, ‘Made in China 2025’. ↩︎

[36] China’s Energy Security Realities and Green Ambitions, The China Academy. ↩︎

[37] Samir Amin, Capitalism in the age of globalization: The management of contemporary society (Zed Books, 2014). ↩︎

[38] Feng & Chen, A New Machine to Change the World?, 37. ↩︎

[39] Chu, Industry policy with Chinese characteristics. ↩︎

[40] Meng & Zhang, Industrial Policy with Chinese Characteristics, 59. ↩︎

[41] Amin, Capitalism in the age of globalization. ↩︎

[42] Meng & Zhang, Industrial Policy with Chinese Characteristics, 39. ↩︎

[43] Feng & Chen, A New Machine to Change the World?; Yeung, ‘Made in China 2025’. ↩︎

[44] Chen & Lees, Growing China’s renewables sector. ↩︎

[45] Torkil Lauesen, The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism (Iskra Books, 2024). ↩︎

[46] Lauesen, The Long Transition, 21. ↩︎

[47] Cheng Enfu and Yang Jun, “China’s “Triple Revolution Theory” and Marxist Analysis,” Monthly Review 77, no. 1 (2025). ↩︎

[48] China Steps Up as the Adult in the Room on Climate, The China Academy. ↩︎

China and Cuba’s solar revolution: solidarity in practice

As Donald Trump tightens his energy stranglehold on Cuba – severing oil supplies, threatening countries that dare to help, and following the Kissinger playbook of “making the economy scream” – a remarkable story of socialist solidarity is unfolding.

Writing in the Morning Star, Carlos Martinez documents how China has stepped into the breach, assisting Cuba with its energy sovereignty and its green transition. Chinese solar exports to Cuba have rocketed from $5 million in 2023 to $117 million in 2025. Beijing has committed to building 92 solar parks on the island by 2028, with a combined capacity equivalent to Cuba’s entire current fossil fuel generation. Already, Cuba’s share of solar power has risen from 5.8 percent to over 20 percent in a single year – a pace of transition that energy analysts describe as one of the fastest ever achieved by a developing nation.

But as this article shows, China’s solidarity extends far beyond megawatts and megaprojects. Ten thousand photovoltaic systems have been donated for rural homes, maternity wards and health clinics. Five thousand solar kits installed across 168 municipalities are keeping medicines refrigerated and families powered through the blackouts. President Xi Jinping personally approved $80 million in emergency aid for electrical equipment. Chinese Ambassador Hua Xin has pledged “firm support under all circumstances.”

This, Carlos argues, is what South-South cooperation looks like in practice: technology, financing and humanitarian assistance with no conditionalities, no structural adjustment, no strings attached. Fidel Castro said in 2004 that China had become “the most promising hope and the best example for all Third World countries.” Cuba’s solar revolution
suggests his assessment has only become more prescient.

When the lights go out in Havana — as they have done for up to 20 hours a day in the worst months of Cuba’s current energy crisis — the causes are not difficult to identify.

The United States’ economic blockade, in place since 1962 and systematically tightened under successive administrations, has cost Cuba an estimated $160 billion ($2 trillion in current prices, which is equivalent to around 20 years of Cuba’s annual GDP).

The latest escalation of this cruel and illegal blockade has involved a full-scale energy embargo, with the US attempting to completely cut off Cuba’s access to oil.

The kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro three months ago resulted in the severing of by far Cuba’s most important energy supplier.

Trump’s tariff threats then forced Mexico to cancel emergency oil shipments.
The result has been blackouts, fuel shortages and severe disruption to daily life across the island. The Trump regime is following the Kissinger playbook of “making the economy scream” in order to force regime change.

And life is unquestionably being made difficult. As a Cuban hairdresser told Medea Benjamin of CodePink in February: “You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives. With no gasoline, buses don’t run, so we can’t get to work. We have electricity only three to six hours a day. There’s no gas for cooking, so we’re burning wood and charcoal in our apartments. It’s like going back 100 years.”

Thankfully, at the end of March, a Russian tanker carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil docked in Havana, providing some urgently needed relief. But Cuba’s energy import situation continues to be highly precarious and uncertain.

Nobody can blockade the sun

The Cuban people’s response to this siege has not been surrender. It has been transformation — and at the heart of that transformation is a remarkable programme of solar energy development, driven by one of the most significant acts of international solidarity in the history of the global green transition.

China’s support for the Cuban renewable energy programme has accelerated dramatically in recent years. Chinese solar exports to Cuba rose from $5 million in 2023 to $117m in 2025. A report in the Financial Times on April 6 notes that “thanks to Chinese technology, the Caribbean island has 34 solar parks in operation with a capacity of almost 1.2 gigawatts (GW), a 350 per cent increase on 2024, enabling Cuba to more than quadruple its proportion of solar-powered generation by the end of last year.”

Beijing has committed to building 92 solar parks in Cuba by 2028, with a combined capacity of approximately 2GW — equivalent to Cuba’s entire current fossil fuel generation capacity. The solar parks already connected to the grid are contributing 1GW. As a result, Cuba’s share of solar in total electricity generation has risen from 5.8 per cent a year ago to over 20 per cent today.

Energy analysts have described this as one of the most rapid solar transitions ever achieved by a developing nation.

Cuba has set official targets of generating 24 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030, rising to 40 per cent by 2035 and 100 per cent by 2050. At the current pace of buildout, the 2030 target looks well within reach — and may be exceeded considerably sooner.

Battery storage — currently in place at only four of Cuba’s 55 solar parks — will need to be expanded significantly to address the evening peak demand. Wind energy will also make a growing contribution, with 19 wind farms totaling 415 MW currently being built, again with Chinese support. But the pace of the solar buildout, measured against where Cuba was just months ago, is already extraordinary.

Chinese support at all levels China’s contribution extends beyond large-scale infrastructure. Beijing has also donated 10,000 photovoltaic systems for deployment in isolated rural homes and critical facilities — including maternity wards and health clinics — ensuring that medical equipment can continue to function and medicines can be refrigerated even during power cuts.

A further 5,000 solar kits have been installed in health centres across 168 municipalities, each comprising panels, inverters and storage batteries. The head of Cuba’s Electric Union described the household-level systems as life-changing: enabling families to run a refrigerator, a fan and a television, and reducing the rural-to-urban migration that energy poverty drives.

Furthermore, in January 2026, President Xi Jinping personally approved $80 million in emergency financial aid for electrical equipment, alongside a donation of 60,000 tons of emergency rice aid.

China has been involved in Cuba’s energy sector for many years — supplying wind turbines since 2018, providing electric buses through Yutong since 2005, and supporting the assembly of Chinese electric cars, scooters and bicycles in Cuba through the Caribbean Electric Vehicles (VEDCA) programme.

In 2021, Cuba joined the Belt and Road Energy Partnership, the Chinese-led international framework for clean energy investment. But the current programme represents a qualitative leap, driven in large part by the urgency of Cuba’s situation and the depth of the bilateral relationship.

As Chinese ambassador Hua Xin stated at the handover ceremony for a recent tranche of solar parks: China stands with Cuba in “firm support under all circumstances.” Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy stated that the co-operation between the two socialist countries represents “a joint commitment to energy sovereignty.”

Socialist solidarity

What is taking shape in Cuba is a demonstration, in the most concrete terms, of what South-South co-operation and socialist solidarity look like in practice: China is providing technology, financing, expertise, training and humanitarian assistance to a country under siege, with no conditionalities, no structural adjustment requirements, no demand for market access.

Hugo Chavez one described the flourishing ties between progressive Latin America and China as a “Great Wall against US hegemonism.” Cuba’s solar revolution is a powerful example of that wall in action.

Fidel Castro said in 2004 that China had become “the most promising hope and the best example for all Third World countries.” Two decades later, the US is raining bombs on Iranian civilian infrastructure, tightening its cruel blockade on Cuba, kidnapping Venezuela’s elected president, and supporting an ongoing genocide in Gaza.

China meanwhile is emerging as the major trading partner of the vast majority of global South nations; has become the world’s only renewable energy superpower; and consistently demonstrates its commitment to peace, international law and global prosperity.

Fidel’s assessment looks more prescient than ever.

China invests in a bright future for Cuba

The Trump administration’s energy siege on Cuba – cutting off oil from Venezuela, threatening punitive tariffs on any country that dares sell fuel to the island – is designed to bring the Cuban Revolution to its knees. What it has produced instead is one of the fastest and most remarkable renewable energy transitions ever achieved by a developing country, carried out in close partnership with socialist China.

Facing blackouts lasting up to 20 hours a day, Cuba has responded not with capitulation but with transformation. In just twelve months, solar power’s share of Cuba’s electricity generation has tripled from 5.8 percent to over 20 percent, with 49 new solar parks now connected to the national grid. Wind energy, electric public transport and decentralised home solar systems are all expanding rapidly. The long-term goal is full energy sovereignty – complete independence from imported fossil fuels by 2050.

This article from Workers World surveys Cuba’s ongoing energy revolution, examining the extraordinary scope of China’s solidarity – from large-scale solar parks to individual kits for rural homes and maternity wards – and what it tells us about the real nature of the
China-Cuba relationship: not a relationship between patron and client, but a partnership between two socialist countries committed to each other’s development and determined to build a world beyond imperial domination.

Relations between the two countries continue to develop in all areas, with China providing emergency humanitarian aid in addition to its support in renewable energy. On 12 March, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla held a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in which the two highlighted the powerful links of friendship between the two socialist countries and reaffirmed their intention to continuing strengthening bilateral relations.

In a remarkable example of international solidarity, Cuba, with the aid of China, has more than tripled its solar power production — one of the fastest renewable energy transitions ever achieved by a developing country. China helped Cuba develop 49 new solar parks and committed to completing 92 solar parks by 2028. Cuba’s solar power production has jumped from 5.8% in early 2025 to over 20% of its total energy generation.

The goal is for Cuba to reduce reliance on foreign fuel, gain independence from the U.S. blockade and become completely carbon neutral by 2050.

In February of this year, solar energy accounted for 38% of electricity generation, during daytime hours. However, peak demand is from 7-8 p.m., and Cuba is unable to afford battery storage capacity — the most expensive component of a solar energy system. But China is racing to improve the technology, and “progress in recent months has been incredible,” according to Ember, a global energy think tank. Chinese battery exports last year hit a record high. (Washington Post, March 1)

In addition to large solar parks, China sent 10,000 solar panel kit systems for individual homes and public buildings; 5,000 systems for critical facilities, including maternity homes, nursing homes, emergency rooms and municipal radio stations; and 5,000 kits specifically for rural and “isolated” homes that are not connected to the national grid.

“If you install a 2kW system for these people there, so they can have a refrigerator, a fan, a television, their lives change completely, and then we contribute to preventing these people from migrating from their communities,” said Elena Maidelín Ortiz Fernández, head of the Electric Union’s installation project. (bellyofthebeastcuba.com, March 6)

Cuba is also boosting renewable energy production by restoring thermal generation capacity, production of crude oil and petroleum gas and increasing their natural gas supply. China has provided Cuba with wind turbines and helped with their installation and maintenance since 2018.

Xinhua News Agency reported that Cuba has four small experimental wind farms with a fifth on the way. They have generated enough energy to save Cuba 29,630 tons of petroleum oil and about 96,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from being released into the atmosphere.

Socialist planning in energy technology

As an example of socialist planning, data is being gathered from Cuba’s experimental wind farms to determine which technology is the most feasible for each region in Cuba. Cuba’s largest wind farm being completed in La Tunas will contribute 1% of total energy production by 2028 and save 40,000 tons of fossil fuels. Cuba also plans on building another 12 wind farms along the northern central and eastern coasts.

In 2005, China sent the first electric bus to Havana. It was manufactured by Yutong, a leading global producer of electric buses. Between 2015 and 2017, China sent Cuba a fleet of electric vehicles. Since 2021, after escalating fuel shortages imposed by the U.S. blockade, Cuba increased the imports of Chinese electric scooters, tricycles and cars.

China continues to support Cuban public transport by supplying parts, components and equipment to rehabilitate the Yutong bus fleet. In a joint venture, Havana’s Caribbean Electric Vehicles (VEDCA) is assembling thousands of Chinese parts into Cuban EVs.

Dave Jones, an energy analyst with Ember, said that Cuba is in the middle of one of the most rapid solar revolutions anywhere and ahead of most countries, including the U.S., in the share of electricity generated by sun power.

Cuba’s goal is to have 26% to 37% renewable energy generation by 2030-2035. Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said that with China’s help, the project represents “a joint commitment to energy sovereignty.” (socialistchina.org, Feb. 25)

With Chinese support, Cuba triples solar power in one year

The following article, originally published in Microgrid Media (an independent news platform dedicated to covering the global shift toward renewable energy) details how, over the last 12 months alone, Cuba has managed to increase its solar-generated electricity from 5.8 percent to over 20 percent of total generation. “The Caribbean nation connected 49 new solar parks to its grid between early 2025 and early 2026, adding more than 1,000 megawatts of capacity with equipment and financing from China. The expansion represents one of the fastest renewable energy transitions ever achieved by a developing country.”

The author notes that China’s support has been indispensable to these efforts. “The rapid expansion would have been impossible without sustained support from Beijing. China committed to building 92 solar parks by 2028 with combined capacity of approximately 2,000 megawatts, nearly matching Cuba’s entire current fossil fuel generation capacity. Beyond large solar farms, China donated approximately 70 tons of power generator parts and committed to installing 10,000 photovoltaic systems for isolated homes and critical facilities including maternity wards and clinics.”

In the face of a cruel, criminal and escalating US energy blockade, Cuba’s rapid progress in solar power represents a substantial boost for defending the country’s sovereignty and its socialist development path. The article observes: “If Cuba sustains installation pace, achieves adequate battery storage, and maintains Chinese support through 2028, it could reach energy independence that renders oil blockades economically irrelevant.”

We have previously covered China’s support helping Cuba advance towards energy sovereignty and sustainability, as well as China’s recent emergency aid to the island.

Cuba has transformed its electricity system in just 12 months, increasing solar power from 5.8% to over 20% of total generation as the country races to escape dependence on oil imports now blocked by US sanctions.

The Caribbean nation connected 49 new solar parks to its grid between early 2025 and early 2026, adding more than 1,000 megawatts of capacity with equipment and financing from China. The expansion represents one of the fastest renewable energy transitions ever achieved by a developing country.

The dramatic shift comes as Cuba faces what officials call an “energy siege.” President Donald Trump signed an executive order in early 2026 threatening tariffs against any country providing oil to the island, cutting fuel imports by approximately 90 percent and triggering blackouts lasting up to 20 hours per day in some regions.

Former UN under-secretary-general Erik Solheim: China is the total dominant force in the green economy

Erik Solheim, former under-secretary-general of the UN and former executive director of the UN Environment Programme, gave a presentation at the Global Times Annual Conference on 20 December 2025. He described the past year as one of global turbulence, but argued that China has emerged as a force for stability, delivering 5 percent economic growth that benefits both its people and the global economy. He highlighted China’s dominance in the green economy, noting that it leads the world in solar, wind, hydropower, electric vehicles, batteries and electric public transport, and observing that global progress in these sectors is being driven almost exclusively by China.

China is the total dominant force in the green economy. 60 percent or more of solar, wind, hydropower, electric cars, electric batteries, metros, high-speed rail, whatever you want to mention, is developed by one nation alone. That’s China…

Solheim made an important link between China’s economic success and its planning system, indicating that China’s socialist market economy is more effective in driving development – particularly sustainable development – than capitalism.

The national plan process of China is unique. No other nation is able to do this. There is a combination of a strong state with a very vibrant market, which we have seen in China since the reform and opening-up started in 1978. To do this, you need a strong state to set the targets, to make the direction, to define the goals, to take the nation in the right direction.

Solheim also discussed the role being played by the Chinese government and companies in the digital economy, particularly the orientation towards the production of open source software as a global common good.

Around the world, China is turning on the lights

We are pleased to republish below a chapter from the recently-released China Changes Everything volume, which has been posted as an article on Workers World. The article, written by Gregory Dunkel, highlights the stark reality that around 700 million people in Africa still lack reliable electricity – a direct legacy of colonialism and ongoing impact of imperialism. Today however, African nations are increasingly turning to low-cost Chinese solar technology to overcome this imposed underdevelopment. With solar and wind power requiring cheap, abundant inputs, Chinese renewable technology has become far more attractive than expensive, fossil-fuel-based systems promoted by the United States and its allies.

China’s state-led policies have driven massive technological advances and cost reductions in green energy in the last 15 years. “In May 2025, in a rush to take advantage of lucrative government subsidies, Chinese solar firms installed nearly a hundred gigawatts of new solar capacity domestically — more than any other country had installed in all of 2024 — and set the world record for the most solar installations in a single month.” Dunkel writes that China is on track to account for over half of all the world’s renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade, and furthermore dominates the global photovoltaic supply chain.

The author highlights the example of Chad:

Currently, only 6.4% of Chad’s population has access to electricity. The government of Chad is planning to raise its electrification rate to 30% by 2027 and to 53% by 2030 using inexpensive Chinese solar panels. It plans to build a solar park in N’Djamena, its capital, with batteries to store power for nighttime access.

Outside Africa, similar green energy transformations are happening in Cuba, where Chinese-backed solar projects could soon eliminate blackouts, and in Pakistan, where households and mosques are adopting Chinese panels at a world-leading rate.

The article concludes that China’s renewable energy leadership is now indispensable — both for global climate solutions and for helping formerly colonised nations break out of centuries of enforced poverty and backwardness.

When the sun goes down, half of the people on the African continent — about 700 million people — have to live in the dark. They don’t have reliable access to electricity and thus have limited access to modern education, economic growth or ways to improve their quality of life. Of the dozens of countries in the world where more than a third of the population still has no access to electricity, only a tiny few, such as Haiti and Papua New Guinea, are not in Africa.

China’s support helping Cuba advance towards energy sovereignty and sustainability

Cuba’s electricity system has come under intense pressure in recent years, shaped by decades of US sanctions, an ageing oil-based grid, and chronic fuel shortages due to restrictions on imports from Russia and Venezuela – a function of the US’s illegal and suffocating blockade. With peak demand reaching 2,500 MW and shortfalls of up to 1,300 MW, widespread daytime power cuts have caused significant disruptions to daily life, from water pumping to refrigeration. While emergency repairs and energy-efficiency measures—supported partly by Russian engineering—have stabilised around 850 MW, the fundamental solution being pursued is based on restructuring Cuba’s energy matrix toward renewable sources.

In this project, China has emerged as Cuba’s most vital partner. In 2024–25, China helped launch an ambitious programme of 55 solar farms capable of supplying 1,200 MW by the end of the year, with 37 more planned by 2028. This collaboration directly addresses Cuba’s shortfalls and reduces its dependence on imported fossil fuels. Chinese assistance also includes refurbishing wind turbines and supplying distributed-generation equipment, spare parts, and thousands of photovoltaic systems for isolated homes.

A recent landmark inauguration in Guanajay of the Mártires de Barbados II solar park symbolises this deepening partnership. The project, part of a Chinese donation that will add 120 MW to Cuba’s grid, was completed in record time thanks to tight coordination between Chinese and Cuban companies. The second phase, already underway, will add another 85 MW plus battery storage. Addressing the inauguration, Chinese Ambassador Hua Xin stated that these efforts embody China’s commitment to Cuba’s sustainable development and to building a China–Cuba community with a shared future. Cuban officials echoed this sentiment, emphasising that the new solar parks will save tens of thousands of tons of imported fuel annually, cut nearly 50,000 tons of CO₂ emissions, and significantly reduce service disruptions.

Against a backdrop of US hostility and sanctions, China’s steady, practical support is helping Cuba advance toward energy sovereignty, economic resilience, and a cleaner, more secure future.

We republish below a report on the inauguration from Granma, the newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, along with the text of a speech by British environmental campaigner Paul Atkin at the National Education Union (NEU) Cuba Solidarity Education Conference on 15th November about Cuba’s turn to solar power.

China’s cooperation with Cuba in the energy sector remains strong and steady

Guanajay, Artemisa.– “China’s cooperation with Cuba in the energy sector remains strong and steady, from ongoing projects, such as equipment and spare parts for distributed generation, the 5,000 photovoltaic systems for isolated homes, and the installation of other solar photovoltaic parks (PSFV) with a total capacity of 85 MW, to the next project to install another 200 MW and the new 5,000 photovoltaic systems for isolated homes.”

China at COP30: unswervingly promote green development and build a beautiful world of harmony between humanity and nature

At the Belém Climate Summit, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang praised Brazil’s leadership in global climate governance and expressed support for a successful COP30. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, he stressed that global climate action has entered a critical phase. Ding highlighted China’s progress toward its 2030 goals, noting it has already surpassed targets for wind and solar capacity and forest stock, and highlighting the country’s 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions, which include its first absolute emissions-reduction target.

Vice Premier Ding emphasised that China will accelerate a comprehensive green transition across its economy as part of the 15th Five-Year Plan, guided by goals for peak carbon and carbon neutrality, and reiterated that China is a country that honours its commitments.

China will accelerate the green transition in all areas of economic and social development, work actively and prudently toward peak carbon emissions, and make greater contributions to addressing climate change.

Ding urged the assembled representatives from around the world to stay on the path of green, low-carbon development while balancing environmental goals with growth, jobs, and poverty reduction; to translate commitments into concrete action, upholding the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, with developed nations taking the lead in emissions cuts and financing; and to deepen openness and cooperation, removing trade barriers and boosting collaboration on green technology and industries.

He concluded: “China is ready to work with all parties to unswervingly promote green and low-carbon development and build a beautiful world of harmony between humanity and nature.”

We republish the full speech below. It was originally published in English on the website of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.

Remarks by H.E. Ding Xuexiang
Special Representative of President Xi Jinping,
Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of The CPC Central Committee, and
Vice Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China
At the Belem Climate Summit
Belem, November 6, 2025

Your Excellency President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,

Colleagues,

Good morning! It gives me great pleasure to attend the Belem Climate Summit as the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping. First of all, I have the honor to convey the best wishes from President Xi Jinping to Brazil for hosting this Summit. President Xi Jinping highly commends the important contributions made by the Brazilian Presidency to global climate governance, and wishes COP30 a full success.

Red goes green: witnessing the truth of China’s ‘ecological civilisation’

The following article by Morning Star editor Ben Chacko describes the reality of China’s pursuit of ecological civilisation, witnessed during a recent trip to the southwestern province of Yunnan, and contrasts it with the West’s hypocrisy: talking up the need for climate mitigation and adaptation whilst predictably sacrificing environmental regulation for economic growth.

Ben notes that China’s environmental record is contested: once the subject of widespread criticism for the pollution and greenhouse gas emissions connected with its rapid industrialisation, it has over the last 15 years made sustainability a central goal, lowering growth targets and embedding ecological protection in its five-year plans. The slogan “clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of silver and gold” is now a guiding principle across the country.

Ben writes that, at Erhai Lake in Dali, a major clean-up project begun in 2018 has restored biodiversity and water quality through state-led coordination — something, he argues, that would be impossible under Britain’s privatised water system. Similarly, conservation initiatives like the Yangtze Finless Porpoise Research Centre and a 10-year fishing ban have reversed biodiversity decline along China’s largest river.

The article also highlights the integration of ecological awareness with social policy: cooperatives in Yunnan’s nut industry and flower farming partnerships with Shanghai institutions have increased incomes while protecting local ecosystems.

Ben contrasts China’s progress — cleaner cities, renewable energy, efficient public transport, flourishing greenery — with Britain’s deterioration in infrastructure and environment. His conclusion is that China’s ecological civilisation is not mere rhetoric but a genuine effort to demonstrate that economic development and environmental protection can advance together in a rational, publicly coordinated economy.

This article was first published in the Morning Star on 9 October 2025.

Sustainable development is one of the world’s biggest challenges — can we raise living standards while protecting the environment and reducing emissions?

In Britain as in the United States, the answer increasingly appears to be “no” — with environmental regulation sacrificed in the name of growth.

China’s environmental record is contested: some paint it as a global villain, with the world’s highest carbon emissions (a point often used on the right to argue that there is no point in Western countries addressing climate change) while others point to its world-leader status in developing green technology including wind and solar power, electric vehicles and emission-reducing high-speed rail as a form of mass transit.

A common accusation after China began “reform and opening up” in 1978 was that the country pursued industrialisation and urbanisation without regard for nature, causing serious environmental degradation and pollution.

The Xi Jinping governments from 2011 announced a changed approach, lowering growth targets and shifting the emphasis of five-year plans to sustainability, which involved social factors (strengthening the welfare state, reducing inequality and eliminating absolute poverty) but also a greater focus on protecting the environment.

This concept took formal shape with 2018’s announcement that China was building an “ecological civilisation” and Xi’s declaration that “clear waters and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of silver and gold” was something we saw posted on billboards and heard on the lips of local leaders throughout the Morning Star’s trip to the country’s south-western Yunnan province this month.

Is it rhetoric or is it real? Our experience suggested China continues to face huge challenges, but is — as in most policy fields — more innovative and more ambitious than Western governments.

China and climate – the question of leadership

The following is an expanded version of a talk given by London-based climate activist Paul Atkin at the Socialist China Conference 2025 on the subject of China’s leadership role in fighting climate breakdown.

The piece argues that climate change is no longer a distant eventuality but a present-day crisis. Drawing on IPCC science, Paul stresses we are already on a dangerous trajectory and in a decisive decade. China is directly suffering climate impacts including flooding, drought, heat deaths and crop yield loss, and as such has a compelling reason to lead on mitigation and adaptation.

China frames its approach to environmental protection through the lens of ecological civilisation and the Two Mountains proposition popularised by Xi Jinping – that green mountains with clear water are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver. China’s political system, Paul contends, allows a centralised, state-driven push for renewable energy and clean infrastructure at scales and speeds that the capitalist world cannot easily emulate.

The country is now a global powerhouse in solar, wind, batteries and electric vehicles, and as a result its domestic emissions may already have peaked. China’s solar and wind installation rates are staggering: “Last year China installed as much renewable power in one year as the US has in its entire history, and this will accelerate.”

Abandoning overseas coal investments, China is helping developing countries leapfrog fossil dependency via exports of solar panels and other clean energy hardware.In contrast, Trump “is locking the US into a suicidal entrenchment in increasingly outmoded fossil fuel technology”.

The article concludes that China is emerging as the de facto climate leader, charting an urgently-needed path of sustainable development. The choice for the rest of the world is whether to hitch itself to the US’s fossil-fuel wagon or align with a cleaner, renewable-based future enabled in large part by China’s commitment, investment and innovation.

This article first appeared on Paul Atkin’s blog, Urban Ramblings. Below the text we embed the video of the speech.

I edit the Greener Jobs Alliance Newsletter and convene the National Education Union Climate Change Network, but am speaking in a personal capacity because both organisations contain a range of views about China and its role in climate change. These are mine.

Marx used to quote Hegel’s dictum that “The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk” to note that people by and large learn from events only after they have happened. In the case of the climate crisis, dusk is falling already and we know what is happening.

IPCC Reports are very clear about the increase in greenhouse gases, the increase in global temperatures that arise from that, and the impacts are increasingly documented, as well as reported as they happen. We are experiencing it. It’s not a single cataclysm that may or may not happen some time in the future. It is happening now. Slowly from the point of view of political/electoral cycles, but with terrifying rapidity in geological terms; such that we are in a crucial decade in the century that will make or break human civilization.

China’s progress proves socialism is the only viable framework for saving the planet

The following is the text of a presentation given by Carlos Martinez to the Fourth World Congress on Marxism, which took place on 11-12 October 2025 at Peking University (PKU), China, organised by PKU’s School of Marxism.

The presentation gives an overview of the progress made by China in recent years with regard to clean energy, and poses the question: why is it China, rather than the advanced capitalist countries, that has emerged as the world’s only ‘green superpower’? Carlos argues that the fundamental reason lies in China’s economy being “structured in such a way that political and economic priorities are determined not by capital’s drive for constant expansion but by the needs and aspirations of the people.”

On the other hand, “the balance of power in capitalist countries is such that even relatively progressive governments find it very difficult to prioritise long-term needs of the population over short-term interests of capital.”

Carlos notes that, as a result of its systematic investment in renewable energy, electric vehicles, transmission systems, batteries and more, China has become the first country to meaningfully break the link between economic development and greenhouse gas emissions. “While governments in the West justify inaction on climate on the basis that it would harm economic growth, China is the first country to make the green transition a powerful driver of economic growth, thereby addressing both the immediate needs of the Chinese people for modernisation and the long-term needs of humanity for a habitable planet.”

China’s progress is set to have a profound global impact. As a result of Chinese innovations and economies of scales, there has been a global reduction in costs, such that for much of the world, solar and wind power are now more cost effective than fossil fuels.

And for those of us in the advanced capitalist countries, where political power is dominated by a decaying bourgeoisie, China’s example can be used to help create mass pressure to stop our governments and ruling classes from destroying the planet, and to encourage sensible cooperation with China on environmental issues.

The Congress featured an impressive array of Marxist academics and authors, including Gong Qihuang, President of Peking University; Li Yi, Vice President of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National Academy of Governance); John Bellamy Foster, Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Review; Cheng Enfu, Professor, School of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Radhika Desai, Professor, University of Manitoba; Roland Boer, Professor, Renmin University of China; Pham Van Duc, Professor, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; and Gabriel Rockhill, Professor, Villanova University. The Congress has been reported on CGTN, including brief video interviews with Carlos Martinez and Radhika Desai.

We will never again seek economic growth at the cost of the environment. (Xi Jinping)

There is a prevailing prejudice in the West that China is a climate criminal – the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and a country that continues to build coal-fired power stations. This connects to a wider perception of socialist governance as being antithetical to environmental protection.

And yet China’s remarkable progress over the last two decades in tackling pollution, protecting biodiversity and developing clean energy is causing this narrative to fall apart.

China has recently passed a historic milestone in its energy transition: cumulative installed solar capacity has exceeded 1 terawatt, representing 45 percent of the global total and far outstripping the United States and European Union.

At the United Nations climate summit in September, President Xi Jinping announced that China was committing to cut carbon dioxide and other pollution by at least 7 to 10 percent by 2035 – the first time that China has set a concrete target for reducing emissions as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.

Credible evidence suggests that China’s greenhouse gas emissions have already peaked, five years earlier than promised.

Since 2013, China’s solar installed capacity has increased by a factor of 180, while wind power capacity has grown sixfold.

China dominates the global green technology supply chain, producing the overwhelming majority of solar modules, wafers, and battery components.

Decarbonising the planet: China leads the way out of the climate crisis

In the video below, KJ Noh interviews Carlos Martinez about China’s role in humanity’s common struggle against climate breakdown. In particular, the two discuss the new comprehensive review by global energy think tank Ember of China’s clean energy progress and its implications for the rest of the world.

KJ and Carlos go into some depth regarding China’s commitment to renewable energy and environmental protection, and the reason China has emerged as the undisputed global leader in clean technology while the US administration is doubling down on fossil fuel and the military-industrial complex.

The two discuss the geopolitics of the climate crisis, concluding that, for much of the US ruling class, a strategy of suppressing China’s rise is a significantly higher priority than saving the planet; “better dead than red” for the 21st century. KJ and Carlos also cover the global significance of China’s innovation, investment and economies of scale, noting that thanks to China’s efforts, there’s been a dramatic cost reduction in green tech around the world, allowing many countries of the Global South to leapfrog fossil fuel-based development.

The interview was originally recorded and broadcast on BreakThrough News on 30 September 2025.

Xi Jinping at the UN Climate Summit: Green and low-carbon transition is the trend of the time

In video remarks to the United Nations Climate Summit on 24 September 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a renewed global commitment to climate action. He stressed that green and low-carbon transition is the “trend of our time”, urging countries not to be swayed by the backsliding of “some country” (presumably referring to the United States) and to deliver ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Xi outlined three key principles. First, confidence: the world must stay resolute and consistent in its climate efforts. Second, responsibility: fairness requires that developed nations lead in emissions cuts while providing financial and technological support to developing countries, respecting their right to development. Third, cooperation: countries should strengthen coordination in green technology and industry, ensure open trade in green products, and share the benefits of sustainable growth worldwide.

Announcing China’s new NDCs, Xi pledged that by 2035 China will: reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10 percent from peak levels; raise non-fossil fuels to over 30 percent of energy consumption; expand wind and solar capacity to 3,600 GW (six times 2020 levels); increase forest stock to 24 billion cubic meters; make new energy vehicles dominant in new sales; extend its carbon trading market; and basically establish a climate-adaptive society. He concluded:

Great visions require concrete actions. Climate response is an urgent yet long-term task. Let’s all step up our actions to realize the beautiful vision of harmony between man and nature, and preserve planet Earth—the place we call home.

In a blog post, veteran educator and activist Mike Klonsky contrasted President Xi’s vision with Donald Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly – “a long and humiliating rant, filled with personal grievances and attacks on the UN, European leaders, migration policies, and clean energy.” Mike observes that Trump “spent about a quarter of his speech undermining UN-led efforts to address climate change and ridiculing renewable energy policies”. Meanwhile, “China is quietly rewriting the global energy script. The numbers aren’t just staggering—they’re humiliating for any nation like the US, still tethered to fossil-fuelled delusions”.

A Morning Star report of 25 September quotes UN climate chief Simon Stiell saying that plan announced by President Xi “is a clear signal that the future global economy will run on clean energy.”

In a separate opinion piece for the Morning Star on 25 September, London-based climate activist Paul Atkin describes the extraordinary progress China is making in relation to green energy:

• China has 17.2 per cent of the world’s people but half of the world’s solar, wind power and EVs.
• Last year, China installed as much renewable power as the US has in its entire history.
• Three out of four offshore wind turbines in 2025 are being installed in China.
• This April, China installed solar power at a rate equivalent to a new power station every eight minutes.
• Enormous solar and wind farms are being built. One of these, in Tibet, is the size of Chicago.

Paul points to the urgent necessity of working closely with China in pursuit of a sustainable future: “As the climate crisis deepens, the cost of being shackled to the US and its cold war stance against China will become more and more apparent — a point we have to make in and through the unions, Labour, the Greens and Your Party.”

Paul is among the speakers at the Socialist China Conference on Saturday 27 September.

We republish below President Xi’s speech at the UN Climate Summit, followed by the text of Paul Atkin’s article.

Honoring Commitments with Concrete Actions and Jointly Writing a New Chapter in Global Climate Governance

Remarks by H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China
At the United Nations Climate Summit
September 24, 2025

Your Excellency Secretary General António Guterres,

Your Excellency President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,

Colleagues,

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a pivotal year for countries to submit their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Global climate governance is entering a key stage.

I wish to share with you three points.

First, we must firm up confidence. Green and low-carbon transition is the trend of our time. While some country is acting against it, the international community should stay focused on the right direction, remain unwavering in confidence, unremitting in actions and unrelenting in intensity, and push for formulation and delivery on NDCs, with a view to providing more positive energy to the cooperation on global climate governance.

Second, we must live up to responsibilities. In the course of global green transition, fairness and equity should be upheld and the right to development of developing countries fully respected. The transition should serve to narrow rather than widen the North-South gap. Countries need to honor the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, whereby developed countries should take the lead in fulfilling emission reduction obligations and provide more financial and technological support to developing countries.

Third, we must deepen cooperation. The world now faces a huge demand for green development. It is important that countries strengthen international coordination in green technologies and industries to address the shortfall in green production capacity and ensure free flow of quality green products globally, so that the benefits of green development can reach all corners of the world.

Colleagues,

Let me take this opportunity to announce China’s new NDCs as follows: China will, by 2035, reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7% to 10% from peak levels, striving to do better; increase the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30%; expand the installed capacity of wind and solar power to over six times the 2020 levels, striving to bring the total to 3,600 gigawatts; scale up the total forest stock volume to over 24 billion cubic meters; make new energy vehicles the mainstream in the sales of new vehicles; expand the National Carbon Emissions Trading Market to cover major high-emission sectors; and basically establish a climate adaptive society.

These targets represent China’s best efforts based on the requirements of the Paris Agreement. Meeting these targets requires both painstaking efforts by China itself and a supportive and open international environment. We have the resolve and confidence to deliver on our commitments.

Colleagues,

Great visions require concrete actions. Climate response is an urgent yet long-term task. Let’s all step up our actions to realize the beautiful vision of harmony between man and nature, and preserve planet Earth—the place we call home.

Thank you.

Time to follow China’s climate leadership

The climate crisis is happening now. We are in a crucial decade in the century that will make or break human civilisation.

It will not follow a path of Fabian gradualism. In physics as in politics, long periods of apparent stasis, in which forces build, hit a tipping point, setting off sudden, dramatic shifts; unimaginable until they happen, but making the previous period unimaginable once they have.

China aims to build a moderately prosperous socialist society as an ecological civilisation, expressed in the “Two Mountains” proposition — that green mountains with clear water are as valuable as mountains of gold.

So, as China grows, it will be green; not socialism with a green component, but green socialism. As one Canadian commentator put it: “China is pushing power sector transformation through central planning. It can build clean infrastructure quickly.”

So, if you have socialist planning, you can put social and ecological priorities in command in a way that the West can’t.

“China sees the old fossil fuel growth model as … unable to sustain long-term prosperity.”

If the socialism that’s built isn’t green, it can’t survive. Investment in solar power, electric vehicles, batteries, and wind power is now the core driver of China’s economy.

• China has 17.2 per cent of the world’s people but half of the world’s solar, wind power and EVs.
• Last year, China installed as much renewable power as the US has in its entire history.
• Three out of four offshore wind turbines in 2025 are being installed in China.
• This April, China installed solar power at a rate equivalent to a new power station every eight minutes.
• Enormous solar and wind farms are being built. One of these, in Tibet, is the size of Chicago.

China now has 57 per cent of its electricity generated by renewables, compared to 50.8 per cent for Britain. China’s domestic emissions are peaking, even as demand for energy increases. Emissions were down 1.6 per cent, and coal consumption dropped by 2.6 per cent, in the first half of this year.

The International Energy Agency expects China to hit peak oil in 2027. As China had driven two-thirds of global oil demand growth from 2013 to 2023, it is set to plateau then drop before 2030.

This makes investment in fossil fuel exploration or power plants increasingly risky. Banks that have traditionally put huge resources into them are beginning to get cold feet. This is putting the US fossil fuel drive at odds with markets. China’s decision to stop coal investment overseas has been pivotal.

• China’s clean energy exports in 2024 shaved 1 per cent off global emissions outside of China.
• Three-quarters of global fossil fuel demand is now in nations where this has already peaked.
• More than 60 per cent of emerging and developing economies like Brazil and Vietnam are leapfrogging the US and Europe in clean electrification.
• Pakistan doubled its previous grid capacity with new rooftop solar last year.
• Solar panel exports from China to Africa are up 60 per cent this year.

Three factors underlie this.

Physics: fossil fuels are wasteful. Two-thirds of their energy is lost to heat or inefficiency. Solar, electric motors, and heat pumps are two to four times as efficient.

Economics: as fossil fuel reserves deplete, they become more expensive to access. The more electric technology is manufactured, the cheaper and better it becomes.

Geopolitics: the old energy system left three-quarters of humanity dependent on expensive, imported fuels. Electric technologies unlock local resources.

So, the Western model of development is outmoded, and the future does not, and cannot, look like the US. China is not following the US in a race to the bottom. Ma Zhaoxu, China’s vice-foreign minister, says: “Regardless of how the international situation evolves, China’s proactive actions to address climate change will not slow down.”

In rolling back Joe Biden’s attempt to suck green investment into the US, Donald Trump has abandoned the future.

This doesn’t simply involve domestic economic self-sabotage, with more expensive fossil fuel plants pushing up bills, offshore wind farms cancelled, imperilling supply in regions like New England, but also a wrecking ball taken to disaster emergency relief and scientific research monitoring the climate.

As the world’s leading petrostate, US policy now actively suppresses the truth about climate change. Their aim is to lock as much of the world as possible into fossil fuel bondage.

Success for the US would lock the world, and the US itself, into climate collapse. But, while the US still makes some of the weather — literally in this case — it’s no longer able to determine the direction of the world.

As climate scientist and 350.org founder Bill McKibben puts it in his article Here Comes the Sun: “Big Oil spent more money on last year’s election cycle in my country than they’ve ever done before. And it’s why they’re now being rewarded with a whole variety of measures designed to slow this transition down, which may succeed.

“I mean, it’s possible that 20 years from now, the US will be a kind of museum of internal combustion that other people will visit to see what the olden days were like. But it’s not going to slow the rest of the world down much, I don’t think.”

There is a tension in the British government, with its attempt to dodge tariffs by bending the knee and committing to an annual £77 billion black hole in “defence” spending, and the stated direction of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to make Britain an “electrostate.” This involves some co-operation with China, but would require more investment than the military spend will allow.

Reform UK and the Conservative Party aim at consolidating energy dependence on the US, no matter how ruinous the cost. As the climate crisis deepens, the cost of being shackled to the US and its cold war stance against China will become more and more apparent — a point we have to make in and through the unions, Labour, the Greens and Your Party.

What is behind China’s successful leadership in tackling the climate crisis?

Ganesh Tailor, writing in People’s Voice, newspaper of the Communist Party of Canada, argues that China’s success in tackling the climate crisis stems from its socialist system and long-term planning:

China’s Five-Year Plans allow for the massive, state-led mobilisation of resources with long-term sustainable goals in mind. These initiatives, necessary for the common good, have led to the PRC’s rise as the world leader in solar panel production and installation and its dominance in wind and hydroelectric projects, along with rapid expansions in electric vehicles and high-speed rail.

Ganesh observes that Chinese innovations around sustainable development are having a global impact, particularly in the Global South:

Through the Belt-and-Road Initiative, Global South countries have received loans to build green infrastructure and develop their sovereign economies without having to concede to structural adjustment or austerity programs, as infamously required by the IMF and World Bank. Instead, China has worked with Pakistan and Zambia to build solar farms, Ethiopia and South Africa to build wind turbines, and Laos and Ecuador to build hydroelectric dams – to name only a few. These projects enable partner countries to diversify their energy sources, especially away from fossil fuels, and strengthen their sovereignty through economic growth and stability.

While the US imposes a criminal blockade on Cuba, “China has donated solar farms, along with at least 70 tons of power generator parts and accessories to aid in Cuba’s energy grid’s robustness. China has additionally provided significant financing for solar infrastructure, with projections for solar powering two-thirds of present-day Cuban demand by 2028.” The article continues:

A stabilized power grid directly translates to a better quality of life for everyday Cubans. Solar farms reduce the frequency and duration of blackouts and free up foreign currency, otherwise spent on oil, to be spent on crucial resources like food and medicine imports. Partnership with the PRC in energy diversification away from imperialist-led fossil fuel hegemony bolsters Cuba’s ability to serve its people and continue defending its hard-fought revolution.

Ganesh concludes that capitalism cannot resolve the climate crisis, as profit-driven systems inherently obstruct real solutions. China’s achievements demonstrate that socialism offers the only viable path to a collective, internationalist, and sustainable future.

We are living through the prime existential threat facing life on this planet. The climate crisis is an undeniable reality born from the inherent contradictions of capitalism. The profit motive and its ecological impacts in development are increasingly borne by the planet and its peoples. We are continually told of supposed “solutions” that are, in reality, nothing more than greenwashing and toothless accords meant to at best manage decline, and at worst open new carbon markets.

Despite the ruthless propaganda emanating from the worst offenders in Washington and Ottawa, the People’s Republic of China, under the leadership of the Communist Party, is demonstrating the superiority of centralized and long-term economic planning to tackle this global challenge.

The Yangtze River Protection Law as a model of ecological governance

The Yangtze River Protection Law (YPL), enacted on March 1, 2021, is China’s first comprehensive river-specific legislation and a landmark in the country’s environmental governance.

The following article, submitted by İbrahim Can Eraslan, describes how, rooted in the concept of ecological civilisation and the principle of harmony between humanity and nature, the YPL seeks to balance economic growth with ecological protection. It addresses decades of industrial, agricultural, and developmental pressures that have degraded the Yangtze River Basin, aiming to integrate ecological restoration, sustainable resource use, and coordinated governance.

Key measures of the law include permanent fishing bans in critical waters, regulation of sand mining, navigation controls in sensitive zones, pollution control, and biodiversity restoration. The YPL also prohibits relocating polluting industries upstream, restricts hazardous chemical transport, and protects shoreline and wetland ecosystems.

As is increasingly the case in China, the YPL embeds environmental protection into economic and land-use planning. By combining detailed statutory provisions, cross-agency cooperation, public oversight and adaptive planning, the YPL creates a model of environmental governance which not only advances China’s ecological modernisation but also offers a potential blueprint for Global South nations confronting similar development–environment tensions.

The author is a Turkish socialist and postgraduate student of Chinese Law and Governance at Tongji University, Shanghai.

As stated in Xi Jinping’s article “Green Mountains and Clean Waters are also Gold and Silver Mountains”, while economic development and growth are prioritized, the environment should not be sacrificed for these goals[i]. Again, in Xi Jinping’s 2017 keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, green development was emphasized[ii]. In the same speech, he called for strengthening cooperation in ecological and environmental protection and for building an ecological civilization while achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Also in 2017, the Chinese government published the Guiding Opinions on Promoting Green Belt and Road Construction and the Belt and Road Ecological and Environmental Cooperation Plan. From all of these, it can be understood that while the Communist Party of China emphasizes development, the principle of “harmony between humans and nature” is adopted as a guiding concept in China’s path to modernization.[iii]

In terms of these principles, the Yangtze River carries significant importance. Following China’s economic reforms, the rapid development of industry and agricultural methods implemented to increase productivity have led to the pollution of the Yangtze. However, the Chinese government has taken significant protective steps in this regard, one of which is the Yangtze River Protection Law, a unique law exclusively dedicated to the protection of the Yangtze. In this sense, I believe that analyzing this law is important in terms of its potential to serve as a model for countries in the Global South.

There are seven laws related to the environment in China.[iv] Although the Constitution holds a different place within the legal hierarchy, special laws also have practical application in their respective areas. In essence, Article 26 of the Constitution of China directly mandates state action to protect and improve the living and ecological environment. It requires pollution control, afforestation, and forest protection. This is the most direct article in the Constitution concerning the environment and represents the principle of “ecological civilization.” On the other hand, Article 22 of the Constitution, by stipulating the protection of sites of scenic and historic importance, combines environmental and cultural elements under the umbrella of national identity. Articles 9 and 10 also form the constitutional backbone of environmental protection.

China’s progress proves socialism is the only viable political framework for saving the planet

The following article by Carlos Martinez argues that China’s remarkable progress in green energy and other aspects of environmental sustainability demonstrates that socialism is the only viable framework for addressing the global climate crisis.

In June 2025, China surpassed 1 terawatt (TW) of installed solar power—about 45 percent of the global total—while combined solar and wind capacity now exceeds coal, marking a pivotal shift and decisive progress towards the country’s goal of achieving net zero by 2060.

Carlos states that China’s successes stem from its socialist system: public ownership and central planning allow for the rapid implementation of large-scale environmental initiatives. “China’s economic system is structured in such a way that political and economic priorities are determined not by capital’s drive for constant expansion but by the needs and aspirations of the people.”

In contrast, capitalist countries continue subsidising fossil fuels and outsourcing emissions while pushing responsibility onto individuals. Decades of climate summits and treaties have failed to slow global emissions, and Green New Deal proposals in the West remain mostly rhetorical.

Carlos concludes that China’s example shows how socialism can provide the structural tools necessary to tackle climate change—offering both practical support for developing countries and political inspiration for those in the capitalist West.

It was reported in late June 2025 that China has reached a historic milestone in its energy transition: the country’s cumulative installed solar capacity has surpassed 1 terawatt (TW). This represents approximately 45 percent of the global total, and is several times higher than the figure for the US (177 gigawatts (GW)) and the European Union (269 GW).

According to the latest figures released by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), the nation’s total installed capacity of wind and solar photovoltaic power has reached 1.5 TW, outstripping thermal power for the first time. This achievement solidifies China’s status as the world’s only renewable energy superpower, and reflects its firm commitment to phasing out its use of fossil fuels.

Ecological civilisation

This progress is a manifestation of China’s program of ecological civilisation, which promotes balanced and sustainable development directed towards the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature, and which has led to China emerging as the undisputed global leader in renewable energy, biodiversity protection, forestation, pollution reduction and sustainable transport .

China’s strategy is based on an understanding that, in the words of President Xi Jinping, “humankind can no longer afford to ignore the repeated warnings of nature and go down the beaten path of extracting resources without investing in conservation, pursuing development at the expense of protection, and exploiting resources without restoration”.

Panda progress: biodiversity protection and wildlife conservation in China

In the week before the start of our recent delegation, Carlos Martinez joined fellow Friends of Socialist China co-founder Danny Haiphong on a tour of Chongqing and Chengdu organised by Beijing Review. One of the visits organised by our hosts was to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

In the article below, originally published in Beijing Review, Carlos reflects on the visit, and highlights how decades of conservation efforts – such as habitat protection, scientific breeding, and the creation of national parks – have led to a near doubling of the wild panda population, as a result of which their status has been upgraded from ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’.

The article notes that China’s biodiversity efforts go well beyond pandas. The country has launched protection programs for other endangered species like the Tibetan antelope and Siberian tiger, while expanding afforestation on a massive scale. Forest coverage has doubled over the past 40 years, and projects like the Green Great Wall have successfully contained desertification, including surrounding the vast Taklimakan Desert with a 3,000-km green belt.

China’s ecological vision is grounded in both traditional philosophy and modern socialist governance. Its concept of ecological civilisation emphasises harmony between humans and nature, and has enabled large-scale environmental progress through the deployment of vast resources and people-centred economic planning.

China also promotes international cooperation on biodiversity protection. It supports Africa’s Great Green Wall, partners with Kenya on biodiversity research, and collaborates with Brazil on satellite monitoring of the Amazon, among other examples. At the 2024 G20 Summit, President Xi reaffirmed China’s commitment to helping developing nations pursue sustainable development, calling for the G20 “to support developing countries in adopting sustainable production and lifestyle, properly responding to challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution, enhancing ecological conservation, and achieving harmony between human and nature.”

Carlos describes how China is leading the way in ecological conservation and proving that large-scale biodiversity protection is both achievable and essential.

On May 21, I visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. The panda sanctuary was truly impressive: vast and lush. The pandas appear happy and healthy, enjoying a huge area in which to roam freely and consume the abundant bamboo supply. Staff are clearly very dedicated to the animals’ care.

China has emerged as a global leader in wildlife conservation. In 1979, the World Wildlife Fund became the first international conservation organization to sign a cooperation agreement with China. Since that time, China’s wild giant panda population has almost doubled (to just under 2,000), thanks to extensive breeding, conservation and reforestation efforts, along with scientific advancements. Additionally, the Giant Panda National Park, consisting of 67 nature reserves and covering a vast 27,134 square km, was opened in 2020 with the express purpose of protecting the panda population.

As a result of all these efforts, the giant panda’s status has been downgraded from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

China has also in recent decades strengthened protection of several other endangered species—including the Siberian tiger, Amur leopard, Tibetan antelope and Hainan gibbon—through habitat protection, artificial breeding and cultivation, and reintroduction to nature. Former UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova has said that China’s efforts in ecological protection and restoration “echo profoundly with the concept of sustainable development embodied in the United Nations Agenda 2030 (Adopted in 2015, this is a global action plan to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030—Ed.), in whose implementation China is emerging as a leader.”

Importance of biodiversity

Action on wildlife conservation and biodiversity protection is essential for a healthy planet and for human wellbeing. Balanced, thriving ecosystems contribute to climate regulation, agricultural production, pollination, nutrient cycling, medicine development, disease control, pest control and much more. Healthy ecosystems are better placed to withstand stresses such as flooding, extreme heat and invasive species, and to adapt to environmental change. As prominent British data scientist Hannah Ritchie points out in her 2024 book Not the End of the World, “From the food we eat and the fresh water we drink to the regulation of the climate: we are dependent on the balance of species around us.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping, when visiting a wildlife sanctuary in Zimbabwe in December 2015, phrased it well, “Wildlife plays a crucial role in the intricate web of life on Earth, contributing substantially to the natural ecological system. The wellbeing of these creatures is intricately intertwined with the sustainable development of humanity.”

Unfortunately, biodiversity is under severe threat as a result of climate change, deforestation, habitat loss and pollution. Scientists estimate that species loss is occurring at over 1,000 times the rate it would without human activity. Therefore, the UN SDGs include a call for governments around the world to “take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.”

China’s energy transition is a world historical breakthrough

In the following article written for the Morning Star, Nick Matthews highlights a major breakthrough in the battle against climate catastrophe: China’s clean energy transition has led to a net reduction in carbon emissions, in spite of the fact that China’s economy and its energy demand continue to grow.

Drawing on data from the well-regarded Carbon Brief website, he reports that in the first quarter of 2025, China’s CO₂ emissions fell by 1.6 percent year-on-year, driven largely by a 5.8 percent drop in emissions from the power sector. This marks the first time China’s emissions have decreased due to expanded clean energy capacity, rather than reduced energy demand (as happened during the Covid-19 pandemic).

Nick notes that electrification of transport and heating is accelerating, with electricity demand from EV charging and battery swapping services growing by 78 percent in 2023 – 3.5 times more than the rest of the world combined. China now leads globally not only in electric cars, but also in electric vans, buses, two-wheelers and heat pumps.

This energy shift has taken many experts by surprise, and has a clear global impact. Nick cites the historian Adam Tooze as saying: “China’s huge surge in renewable energy, above all in solar power, actually puts us on track for the first time to meet these objectives”

Major challenges remain for China’s project of ecological civilisation – especially grid restructuring and balancing renewable supply – but reaching the goal of peak emissions several years ahead of the 2030 target can be considered a turning point. The country’s rapid clean energy development shows that with the political will – which is of course a function of a socialist political structure – a sustainable future is entirely possible.

While most news this year has been nothing short of bleak, we have had a piece of news that is of world historical significance. I am not sure how many Morning Star readers are regular readers of the Carbon Brief, a British website that covers the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy.

The news I am referring to not that the British output of solar energy this year has increased by 42 per cent due to the driest spring on record, welcome as that is. The even better news was: “For the first time, the growth in China’s clean power generation has caused the nation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to fall despite rapid power demand growth.

“The new analysis for Carbon Brief shows that China’s emissions were down 1.6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 and by 1 per cent in the latest 12 months. Electricity supply from new wind, solar and nuclear capacity was enough to cut coal-power output even as demand surged, whereas previous falls were due to weak growth.”

The reduction in China’s first-quarter CO2 emissions in 2025 was due to a 5.8 per cent drop in the power sector. While power demand grew by 2.5 per cent overall, there was a 4.7 per cent drop in thermal power generation, mainly coal and gas.

Increases in solar, wind and nuclear power generation, driven by investments in new generating capacity, more than covered the growth in demand. The increase in hydropower, which is more related to seasonal variation, helped push down fossil power generation.

This is not some small country making the clean energy transition. This is the world’s largest manufacturing economy.

China is way ahead in electrifying heating and transport, and building electrolyser capacity. In 2023, China’s electricity demand from the charging and battery swapping service industry grew by 78 per cent and added an estimated 56 TWh to China’s electricity demand, 3.5 times more than the rest of the world.

What that means is measured in terms of power consumed. China’s electrification of road transport is 3.5 times larger than that of the rest of the world put together.

It is this revolution that has Western governments and automakers in a panic. China accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s electric light-vehicle sales, but this segment represents only an estimated 18 TWh of the 56 TWh demand increase, with the rest coming from electric vans, trucks, buses and two-wheelers, which China dominates globally. It is also the largest heat pump market in the world, with more installations per year than any other country.

The significance of this news is hard to overestimate. At Cop28 in 2023, many countries around the world committed to tripling global renewable electricity capacity by 2030. If undertaken, this has the potential to almost halve power sector emissions by 2030, as coal-fired power generation will be replaced first. Furthermore, it will provide enough new electricity to drive forward the electrification of transport, home and industrial heating with a 32 per cent increase in electricity demand.

Many thought that this was something of a pipedream. But as leading economic historian Adam Tooze has said: “China’s huge surge in renewable energy, above all in solar power, actually puts us on track for the first time to meet these objectives.”

As the clean energy think tank Ember reports, it has taken experts around the world by surprise. What we are witnessing is the most rapid take-up of a significant energy technology in history.

It’s worth looking in detail at what China is achieving. The Carbon Brief report by Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, goes into a lot of detail and is well evidenced.

We are not quite on the road to a carbon-neutral world, as Ember points out, the drama of green electrification is only just beginning. It is one thing to replace dirty power generation for existing uses with solar and wind. It is another to build out the entire electricity system to meet the new demands for electricity in data-processing, transport, domestic and industrial uses.

The challenges of switching to renewables and the restructuring of energy grids have only just begun, and balancing supply across a myriad of renewable sources clearly represents a significant challenge. China’s example, however, shows that with political will, it is possible. So mark May 2025 in your calendar; thanks to China, we can now see the outline of what a carbon-free energy future looks like.

Nicaragua and China break ground on landmark solar project to power water access and energy sovereignty

The following report in Telesur notes that Nicaragua, in partnership with China, has inaugurated construction on the country’s largest solar plant to date, powering water systems, cutting energy costs, and deepening South-South cooperation on infrastructure for social good. The plant marks “a strategic leap toward energy independence, climate resilience, and universal access to clean water”.

According to the article, the Enesolar-3 photovoltaic facility in Masaya, funded with $83 million of Chinese investment, is set to supply renewable energy to the country’s water utility, ENACAL, directly benefiting nearly 4 million people across urban and rural communities.

Framed as more than just an infrastructure project, Enesolar-3 is part of a broader initiative by the Sandinista government to expand renewable energy, reduce fossil fuel dependency, and ensure access to public utilities as a basic human right.

Laureano Ortega Murillo, presidential advisor for investment and international cooperation, stated at the the cornerstone ceremony that “this is our Sandinista Popular Revolution delivering works of progress, development, dignity, and peace for the Nicaraguan people—together with our brothers from the People’s Republic of China”.

When construction is complete, Enesolar-3 will be Nicaragua’s largest green solar power plant.

China’s ambassador to Nicaragua, Chen Xi, “reaffirmed China’s support for Nicaragua’s development and praised the South-South partnership as one rooted in equality, sovereignty, and mutual respect”.

Nicaragua has inaugurated construction on a major solar power plant in partnership with China, marking a strategic leap toward energy independence, climate resilience, and universal access to clean water. Funded by an $83 million investment from Beijing, the Enesolar-3 photovoltaic facility in Nindirí, Masaya, is set to supply renewable energy to the country’s water utility, ENACAL, directly benefiting nearly 4 million people across urban and rural communities.

Don’t believe the New Cold War lies, China is leading the world in climate solutions

In the following article for Liberation News, Tina Landis – author of the book Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism – argues that recent trend of placing blame for the climate crisis on China is incorrect and ahistorical. While it’s true that China currently emits more carbon dioxide than any other countries, this statistic ignores critical context: China manufactures 30 percent of the world’s goods and houses nearly 18 percent of its population. On a per capita and consumption-based level, US emissions are significantly higher. Meanwhile, the US’s outsourcing of production – and thereby pollution – to China is rarely acknowledged.

China’s centrally planned socialist system has enabled rapid and large-scale action on environmental issues. Since the early 2000s, China has embedded ecological goals into its national development strategies. It has implemented stringent environmental impact assessments, halted major polluting projects, and dramatically improved air quality. By 2021, particulate pollution dropped by 42 percent. The country still uses fossil fuels but is aggressively expanding renewables: by mid-2024, wind and solar capacity surpassed coal, and China is on track to reach its ambitious renewable energy goals ahead of time.

China leads globally in electric vehicles and public transit electrification, producing 60 percent of the world’s electric vehicles and 90 percent of electric buses. It also has by far the world’s most extensive high-speed rail network. What’s more, these sustainable development projects have not resulted in poverty; indeed they have helped to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty.

Massive ecological restoration efforts such as as taking place in the Loess Plateau, the vast afforestation projects, and the construction of sponge cities have all contributed to improving biodiversity and climate resilience. The Belt and Road Initiative exports this model of green development abroad.

Tina concludes that such extraordinary progress is only possible within a context of socialism, urging readers in the West to reject anti-China narratives and learn from China’s example.

These types of large scale projects inside and outside of China can only be achieved under a centralised, socialist planned economy. Here in the heart of empire, we need to see past the demonisation campaigns that are meant to win our support for U.S. war with China, and instead learn from the ecologically sustainable development efforts that they are leading.

At the time of the 1949 revolution, China was largely an agrarian society with widespread poverty, famine and lack of infrastructure. Rapid development over several decades resulted in a significant rise in pollution in China.

The U.S. mainstream media never addresses the outsourcing of production to China and thus the outsourcing of pollution. Rarely are emissions accounted for based on where goods are produced versus where those goods are consumed, or population size of a country relative to emissions levels. If you take a snapshot of emissions today and ignore population and consumption of goods, China does have the highest carbon emissions with the U.S. coming in second. But China produces 30% of the world’s goods and accounts for 17.7% of global population, while the U.S. is the largest consumer of Chinese goods globally and accounts for 4.3% of global population.

When you look at per capita emissions of each country, as well as per capita consumption-based emissions, the U.S. is responsible for a much larger portion of global emissions than China.