China clean energy: "There's a lot of room for clean energy to expand"

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe interviewed Lauri Myllyvirta, Senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA)

Transcript

00:00Now, China's clean energy exports are making a major dent in global carbon emissions.

00:06That's according to a new study by a Finland-based environmental think tank.

00:10The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air says that last year alone,

00:15exports of solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and wind turbines

00:19will cut CO2 emissions outside China by 1% during their lifetime.

00:25That's around 4 billion tonnes.

00:27Planned Chinese power plants and other green energy projects overseas

00:30could cut global emissions by further 350 million tonnes per year,

00:35roughly equal to Australia's annual output.

00:39China's clean energy footprint now covers nearly the entire world,

00:42with exports to almost all UN member states,

00:45plus manufacturing and project investments in dozens of countries.

00:50However, the report notes that manufacturing these products

00:52generated around 110 million tonnes of CO2 in China last year,

00:58but says those emissions can be offset in less than a year once the products are in use.

01:03Well, Laurie Muller-Wurter is the lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air,

01:10which produced that report, and I'm delighted to say he joins us now.

01:12Thank you very much indeed for being with us.

01:14So your analysis shows that China's 2024 clean energy exports

01:18could cut overseas CO2 by 220 million tonnes in just one year.

01:24It sounds impressive.

01:25Just how big a climate impact is that?

01:29The world's total emissions are very large, obviously,

01:32so cutting 1% of them off or avoiding 1% is significant.

01:36That's equal almost to the total emissions of Spain.

01:40On the other hand, we do need to cut global emissions by several percent per year,

01:46and we need to cover all of the growth in global energy demand.

01:50So there's still a lot of room for clean energy to expand,

01:56including for China's exports of these products to expand.

02:00And this 1% overseas CO2 cut happens within just one year of operation.

02:05What makes the payback period so fast compared to other decarbonisation measures?

02:13Solar panels have gotten a lot thinner, more efficient,

02:18so they need a lot less material input to produce the same power generation

02:24than they used to, let's say, a decade ago.

02:28So because of that, the carbon footprint has gotten a lot smaller.

02:33Of course, China's power generation has also gotten cleaner

02:37compared with where it was 10 years ago,

02:40so both of those things have helped reduce the footprint.

02:45And the footprint itself with clean tech, Chinese clean tech, is huge, isn't it,

02:49reaching 191 countries last year.

02:52Which regions are seeing the biggest emissions cuts, and how is that happening?

02:57The biggest importers of China's clean energy technology are South Asia,

03:06the Middle East and North Africa region, and Europe.

03:11When we look at the percentage impact, it's the largest in the Middle East

03:15and in Sub-Saharan Africa, which obviously still has a smaller energy system

03:22than the other regions that I mentioned, which is growing it fast

03:26and installing a lot of new capacity.

03:30And it's always, of course, good news that at least many countries in that region

03:35seem to be moving directly into clean power generation

03:40rather than going for a fossil fuel-based system first

03:43and then trying to transition later.

03:45And how would you say that trade tensions risk slowing the emissions cuts?

03:53The incredible reduction in costs of producing solar panels,

04:00EV batteries and so on in China has resulted in a backlash in a lot of countries.

04:07Some of that is justified.

04:09Even the Chinese government itself recognizes that there is unhealthy price competition

04:13at the moment in China, but then there are tariff measures

04:18that are clearly just designed to block clean energy technology

04:23from reaching willing buyers.

04:26And that's, of course, creating a lot of uncertainty

04:31and raising costs for the clean energy industry,

04:37especially if there's, let's say, the U.S. has put on major tariffs,

04:43and at the same time cut some of the measures

04:46that were meant to create alternative supply chains within the U.S.

04:51So clearly that's not going to be helpful at all for the clean energy transition.

04:58Well, it's a fascinating report.

04:59Thank you so much for talking us through it.

05:01Laurie Miloverter, lead analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

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