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Comment on Last year China generated almost 3 times as much solar power as the EU did, and it's close to overtaking all OECD countries put together (whose combined population is 1.38 billion people)

Fizz@lemmy.nz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

Nice I love seeing China Greenwashing get reposted. Remember that China is 3x the size of the EU so them having 3x the renewable power is a stupid comparison. China also continues to increase coal generation by more than renewables. China is only %27 renewables while the EU is 47%. China is 17% of the world and almost 40% of the emissions.

OECD countries are actually working on emission reduction instead of china which continue to increase emissions with absolute no signs of stopping. They have missed every single renewable target and goal they’re set. But dont worry im sure they will stop building more coal plants in 2030, im sure it wont be to late by then.

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AES_Enjoyer@reddthat.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

China is 17% of the world and almost 40% of the emissions.

Deceiving metrics. What percentage of world PPP GDP is China? China doesn’t pollute due to its population, it pollutes because it’s the industrial hub of the world. How comfortable of you to sit in your office and import Chinese products disregarding the effect of that in the pollution metrics of your country and China.

China is only %27 renewables while the EU is 47%

And how long did China take to develop? What are the cumulative CO2 emissions of China vs those of the US or Europe? Furthermore: where are the solar panels that Europe uses manufactured? Europe may have a blossoming wind industry, but photovoltaics are almost entirely Chinese.

What a chauvinistic and anti-Chinese point of view. BTW, you got completely proven wrong on China building more coal than renewables, you’re just spitting disinformation.

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- Fizz@lemmy.nz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  you’re retarded
  
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Eyekaytee@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

China also continues to increase coal generation by more than renewables.

I don’t believe this:

Image

ember-energy.org/countries-and-regions/china/

In 2024, China approved 66.7GW of new coal-fired capacity, started construction on 94.5GW of coal power projects

Even if you add these 2 together and pretend they were finished the same year it’s not even close to:

China’s renewable energy sector made remarkable progress in 2024, adding 356 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar capacity

theasialive.com/…/14/

They have missed every single renewable target and goal they’re set.

I don’t believe this is true either unless you are referring to some other targets?

In 2020, China set a goal to install at least 1,200 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power by 2030. By the end of 2024, China had already surpassed this target, reaching this milestone 6 years ahead of schedule. This was made possible by aggressive investments, government policies, and a surge in solar and wind installations.

China’s solar capacity grew by an incredible 45.2% in 2024, adding 277 GW. Wind capacity also saw a strong increase of 18%, with an additional 80 GW installed. Overall, total power generation capacity rose by 14.6% in 2024, driven mainly by renewables.

carboncredits.com/chinas-renewable-energy-boom-a-…

China is only %27 renewables while the EU is 47%.

Don’t worry, just like everything else in the near future that will flip with China having more renewables than the EU

You have plenty of money apparently to suddenly:

NATO leaders on Wednesday confirmed their commitment to more than double defence spending by 2035 banding words like “crucial”, “momentous” and “quantum leap”, but the summit also exposed rifts over how the US and Europe perceive Ukraine and Russia.

euronews.com/…/defence-spend-to-5-of-gdp-ukraine-…

Global energy storage owner-operator BW ESS and Spanish energy storage developer Ibersun say a new joint venture is intended to build eight four-hour battery projects across the country, with a combined capacity of 2.2 GW, 8.8 GWh.

…com.au/no-time-to-waste-huge-big-battery-plans-u…

On top of this energy prices in the EU are ridiculous and for some reason they still can’t get off the gas, so they have high energy prices and their companies and manufacturing are leaving them… to go to China…

aussie.zone/comment/17361559

But I appreciate your scepticism, especially for China, they are the worlds top producer of CO2 by FAR but I do want to address

Greenwashing

This is something I’ve wanted for a while:

It requires EU importers to pay a levy corresponding to the embedded carbon emissions in 303 emission-intensive products

oecd.org/…/what-to-expect-from-the-eu-carbon-bord…

I’ve long disliked that places like the EU and the rest of the west can export their dirty manufacturing over to China where companies take advantage of lax or no environmental regulations, it’s a false economy and makes the west look a whole lot greener and cleaner than it should if we were manufacturing what we used back at home

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- Fizz@lemmy.nz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  edit: boy I sure do love to procrastinate and talk about energy and co2 instead of studying :|
  
  I feel the same way, but I had to actually focus on real life over the weekend instead of combing through the energy reports. I will start by being good faith and saying that its very likely that 2024 stats are significantly more in favor of strong renewable growth but I also couldnt find a csv of data on ember-energy so i couldnt look at the actual numbers. The major energy reports I normally go by dont seem to have included 2024 data yet. Its likely that even in 2024 non renewables still increased more than renewables even though china claims that renewables were 80% of the growth I will explain below why this has previously been the case.
  
  China also continues to increase coal generation by more than renewables.
  
  China loves this stat and its a good stat but its a bit misleading, these show renewable energy as a % of total power which is relative instead of absolute. Why this is important is because it allows china to brag about increasing renewables while still massively increasing non renewables.
  
  Year 2022: Renewable = 8114 TWh | Non-renewable = 36401 TWh | % renewables = 18.2% From Energy Institute’s world review
  
  Year 2023: Renewable = 8719 TWh | Non-renewable = 38708 TWh | % renewables = 18.3%
  
  Renewable energy increase was 605 TWh and Non-renewable was 2307 TWh
  
  There is another stat that these reports normally parade around. Its % increase of a specific energy type. (these stats are made up cause i could be fucked finding an example article of a claim) They will say something like solar went from 600gw to 1000 thats a 66% increase this year and coal only increased 40% except coal is 3600gw to 6400.
  
  Maybe I’m wrong and if so i’d love for someone smarter than me to correct me.
  
  They have missed every single renewable target and goal they’re set.
  
  China does this thing where they go to climate meetings and agree on world goals like 13% energy intensity reduction and carbon intensity reduction. They then go back home and broadcast random goals like adding x amount of solar or carbon peak by x year. These are no climate targets, these are personal targets from the CCP that even if achieved (the carbon peak 1000% wont be) are no where close to what is required to meet their climate goals.
  
  instituteforenergyresearch.org/…/china-is-missing…
  
  Europe has plenty of money apparently to suddenly double defense spending OVER 10 YEARS
  
  I’m not sure how european defense spending is relevant considering china’s defense spending has also more than doubled in the last few years and is nearing the US
  
  Where will the batteries be made I wonder?
  
  Prehaps they would be made in a country with environmental and labour laws if governments legislated properly to prevent companies outsourcing manufacturing. However this doesnt absolve china. China isnt being forced at Gunpoint to produce these goods with low labour regulation and low environmental regulation.
  
  energy prices in the EU are ridiculous
  
  Can someone actually point out to me where this comes from? Even when I look up the peak spike of germany Energy prices it doesnt seem that bad. At the end of the day energy is a small % of EU household spending and ill think that until i see otherwise.
  
  It requires EU importers to pay a levy corresponding to the embedded carbon emissions in 303 emission-intensive products
  
  This would be great, it would have been greater 10 years ago. But the best time to act was yesterday and the 2nd best time is today so i’d be happy to see something like this implemented although I dont know how effective it would be since manufacturing competitiveness is no where close anymore.
  
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  - Eyekaytee@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    They will say something like solar went from 600gw to 1000 thats a 66% increase this year and coal only increased 40% except coal is 3600gw to 6400.
    
    Hrmmmm, maybe these numbers are outdated? Based on this coal and gas are down:
    
    In Q1 2025, solar generation rose 48% compared to the same period in 2024. Solar power reached 254 TWh, making up 10% of total electricity. This was the largest increase among all clean energy sources.
    
    Coal-fired electricity dropped by 4%, falling to 1,421 TWh.
    
    Gas-fired power also went down by 4%, reaching 67 TWh
    
    carboncredits.com/china-sets-clean-energy-record-…
    
    are no where close to what is required to meet their climate goals
    
    Which ones in particular are you talking about?
    
    Trump signs executive order directing US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement — again
    
    apnews.com/…/trump-paris-agreement-climate-change…
    
    China vowed on Tuesday to continue participating in two cornerstone multinational arrangements – the World Health Organization and Paris climate accord – after newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump ordered withdrawals from them.
    
    france24.com/…/20250121-china-says-committed-to-w…
    
    What’s that saying? You hate it when the person you hate is doing good? I can’t remember what it is
    
    I can’t fault them for what they’re doing at the moment, even if they are run by an evil dictatorship and do pollute the most
    
    I’m not sure how european defense spending is relevant
    
    It suggests there is money available in the bank to fund solar/wind/battery, but instead they are preparing for? something? what? who knows. France can make a fighter jet at home but not solar panels apparently.
    
    Prehaps they would be made in a country with environmental and labour laws if governments legislated properly to prevent companies outsourcing manufacturing. However this doesnt absolve china. China isnt being forced at Gunpoint to produce these goods with low labour regulation and low environmental regulation.
    
    You’re right, it doesn’t absolve china, and I avoid purchasing things from them wherever possible, my solar panels and EV were made in South Korea, my home battery was made in Germany, there is very little but things I cannot get elsewhere that are made there.
    
    With that said it’s one thing for me to sit here and tut tut at China, but I realise I am not most people, the most clearest example is the extreme anti-ai, anti-billionaire bias on this platform, in real life most people don’t give a fuck, they love Amazon/Microsoft/Google/Apple etc, they can’t go a day without them.
    
    So I consider myself a realist, if you want people to buy your stuff then you will need to make the conditions possible for them to WANT to buy your stuff, not out of some moral lecture and Europe isn’t doing that, if we look at energy prices:
    
    Can someone actually point out to me where this comes from? … At the end of the day energy is a small % of EU household spending
    
    I was looking at corporate/business energy use:
    
    Major European companies are already moving to cut costs and retain their competitive edge.
    
    For example, Thyssenkrupp, Germany’s largest steelmaker, said on Monday it would slash 11,000 jobs in its steel division by 2030, in a major corporate reshuffle.
    
    oilprice.com/…/High-Energy-Costs-Continue-to-Plag…
    
    Prices have since fallen but are still high compared to other countries.
    
    A poll by Germany’s DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce of around 3,300 companies showed that 37% were considering cutting production or moving abroad, up from 31% last year and 16% in 2022.
    
    For energy-intensive industrial firms some 45% of companies were mulling slashing output or relocation, the survey showed.
    
    “The trust of the German economy in energy policy is severely damaged,” Achim Dercks, DIHK deputy chief executive said, adding that the government had not succeeded in providing companies with a perspective for reliable and affordable energy supply.
    
    reuters.com/…/more-german-companies-mull-relocati…
    
    I’ve seen nothing to suggest energy prices in the EU are SO cheap that it’s worth moving manufacturing TO Europe.
    
    This would be great, it would have been greater 10 years ago.
    
    Agreed
    
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- humanspiral@lemmy.ca ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  China approved 66.7GW of new coal-fired capacity, started construction on 94.5GW of coal power projects
  
  New power plants don’t mean using those power plants. Resilience/backup power. Use of coal for electricity has declined despite new coal plants.
  
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mattreb@feddit.it ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
tbh I’m surprised that you even got upvotes, didn’t went that well for me with a similar answer on another post…

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- Fizz@lemmy.nz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah the .ml must have missed this thread.
  
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Fizz@lemmy.nz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
While everyone else is paying the costs that come with environmental regulation china is exploiting it and getting celebrated for it. Its insane what a few dollars can do to change peoples minds on a topic.

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