BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) — China’s sweeping transition to renewable energy has earned rare global scientific acclaim, with leading academic journals “Science” and “Nature” highlighting the country’s clean power surge as one of the most inspiring breakthroughs of 2025.
“Science” magazine named China’s renewable energy expansion the “2025 Breakthrough of the Year”, crediting it with bringing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in China close to a standstill and placing a global carbon peak within reach.
The journal described China’s “mighty industrial engine” as the key driver, noting that the country now produces about 80 percent of the world’s solar cells, 70 percent of wind turbines and 70 percent of lithium batteries at globally unmatched prices.
“Nature” also featured China’s clean energy achievements among its “feel-good science stories to restore your faith in 2025,” underscoring their global significance. The journal reported that renewables overtook coal as the world’s largest energy source for the first time this year, fueled by China surpassing 1 terawatt of installed solar capacity in May.
In the first half of 2025 alone, China installed twice as much new solar capacity as the rest of the world combined.“China and many developing countries are deploying solar, wind and electric vehicles at a pretty breakneck pace,” climate scientist Glen Peters was quoted as saying.China’s renewable expansion has repeatedly broken records.
By March, the country’s combined wind and solar capacity surpassed thermal power for the first time in history. As of the end of June, installed wind and photovoltaic capacity reached 1.67 billion kilowatts, standing 13.6 percent higher than thermal power capacity.
According to the National Energy Administration (NEA), China has built the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system over the past five years, with renewables’ share of installed power capacity rising from around 40 percent to 60 percent. Over the same period, the share of non-fossil fuels in overall energy consumption increased by one percentage point annually, while coal’s share declined by the same margin each year. The 2025 Energy Nature Index further shows that from 2019 to 2024, China’s clean energy output significantly outpaced that of other countries. China also operates the world’s largest carbon market by coverage, regulating more than 60 percent of national carbon dioxide emissions.
In September, China unveiled its new Nationally Determined Contributions for 2035, setting ambitious targets that include reducing economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 to 10 percent from peak levels. This marks the country’s first absolute emissions reduction target covering the entire economy and all greenhouse gases. China also aims to raise the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 percent by 2035 and expand installed wind and solar capacity sixfold from 2020 levels.
Beyond reshaping its domestic energy landscape, China’s clean energy push is having a global impact. “Science” noted that China’s booming exports of green technologies are transforming energy transitions worldwide.
NEA data show that over the past five years, China’s wind and solar exports have helped the world avoid approximately 4.1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions.
China has cooperated with more than 100 countries and regions on green energy projects, cutting the average global cost of wind power by 60 percent and photovoltaic power by 80 percent, according to NEA head Wang Hongzhi. Since 2016, the country has also provided over 177 billion yuan (about 25 billion U.S. dollars) in climate funding to other developing nations.
As one “Science” editor observed, China now produces clean energy technologies for the world “better, vastly cheaper, and in staggering quantities.”
