Introducing: The Climate Question: China's green energy revolution

This episode of The Climate Question from the BBC World Service explores China's unprecedented green energy revolution, examining how the country is simultaneously expanding its renewable energy capacity while continuing to build coal-fired power plants. Through on-the-ground reporting by BBC correspondent Laura Bicker, the podcast reveals a nation in transformation: vast solar farms and wind turbines now dot the landscape from Inner Mongolia to Yunnan, often coexisting with coal plants and former coal mines. While China has become the world’s dominant producer of solar panels and batteries, driven by state-backed industrial policy and economic ambitions, the transition is not without human and environmental costs. Farmers displaced by solar projects, elderly residents forced from their homes due to mine subsidence, and pensioners struggling with unaffordable clean heating highlight the uneven distribution of benefits. Despite these challenges, new data shows China’s CO2 emissions dropped slightly in 2025—the first full-year decline since 2022—suggesting emissions may have peaked. Experts remain cautious, noting that coal still supplies half of China’s energy and that systemic hurdles remain in grid integration and policy implementation. The episode concludes with a nuanced assessment: China is a green superpower with global influence, but not yet a climate leader in the international sense.