China’s energy transition sees ‘staggering’ progress on renewables — and a coal power boom
China is recognized as the undisputable global leader in renewable energy expansion.
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
China is making rapid progress in scaling up clean energy, tentatively boosting hopes that the world’s largest carbon emitter could soon start to curb greenhouse gas pollution.
A massive wave of permits for new coal-fired capacity poses a significant challenge to the country’s climate goals, with Beijing seen as “the glaring exception to the ongoing global decline in coal plant development,” according to the Global Energy Monitor.
Research from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air and GEM published late last month showed China approved the highest number of new coal-fired plants since 2015 last year.
Beijing authorized 106 gigawatts of new coal power capacity in 2022, four times higher than a year earlier and the equivalent of 100 large-fired power plants, the research said.
The extraordinary speed at which China approved the projects was thought to have been driven by energy security considerations, namely electricity shortages following a historic drought and heatwave last summer.
The major additions of new coal-fired capacity may not necessarily mean that carbon emissions from the power sector will increase in China, CREA and GEM analysts said, particularly given the country’s rapid progress in scaling up clean energy.
China was found to have permitted 106 gigawatts of new coal power capacity in 2022, four times higher than a year earlier and the equivalent of 100 large-fired power plants.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
China is recognized as the undisputable global leader in renewable energy expansion, adding new projects to the grid almost as fast as the rest of the world combined in 2022.
The build-out comes as part of the government’s strategy to cut its energy intensity and reach peak emissions “in a well-planned and phased way.”
“When we look around the world today, we can firmly see that the energy transition is in progress,” said Mike Hemsley, deputy director at the Energy Transitions Commission think tank.
“China is building renewables at such a staggering rate [that] it is said to outperform the targets they have set themselves,” Hemsley said at International Energy Week in London last week. He added that around 50% of all renewables built every year were built in China.
“To put that into context, we’ve heard the really admirable goal of Masdar to build 100 gigawatts of renewables by 2030 [but] China every year is building around 75 gigawatts of wind and in excess 100 gigawatts of solar every year,” Hemsley said. Masdar is the UAE’s state-owned renewables developer.
On its current trajectory, Hemsley said that Beijing is on track to reach 1,800 gigawatts of total renewables by 2030. That would be 50% higher than Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s target of 1,200 gigawatts of total renewables by the end of the decade.
“The implications of that being [that] they will outperform their Nationally Determined Contribution, and they are likely to peak emissions way before 2030, some say around 2025 [or] 2026,” Hemsley said, describing this as “really positive news.”
‘A hot, still summer evening is the worry’
The International Energy Agency said earlier this month that, while still rising, global carbon emissions may at least be reaching a plateau.
Energy-related carbon emissions added less than 1% in 2022 to a new high of more than 36.8 billion tons. The increase was less than expected, as renewables helped limit the impact of a global rise in coal and oil consumption. Comparatively, global emissions from energy gained by 6% in 2021.
China’s emissions, the IEA said, were broadly flat in 2022, as Covid-19 measures and declining construction activity led to weaker economic growth.
“Getting China’s emissions to peak has an indispensable role in peaking and declining global emissions — and the success of the overall global effort,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at CREA.
In 2020, China’s Xi announced plans for the world’s second-largest economy to strive for peak carbon emissions in 2030 and for carbon neutrality by 2060.
Myllyvirta told CNBC via telephone that, depending on one’s perspective, China’s climate targets could either be seen as flexible or as lacking in ambition, noting it is important to keep in mind that they allow for a “huge range of outcomes.”
“The grid planners believe that there are going to be some hours or days or weeks during the summer [when] they are going to need more coal-fired power plants,” Myllyvirta said.
China’s power system remains dependent on coal, the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, to meet electricity peak loads and to manage the variability of demand and of clean power supply.
Burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate crisis.
“A hot, still summer evening is the worry. Where are [they] going to get enough power to keep the lights on? That’s why they think they need more coal-fired power plants, because that’s traditionally the way they’ve met the demand in that situation,” Myllyvirta said.
If China is going to meet its climate commitments — as CREA expects — then the think tank says that the country’s new coal power plants will “end up as short-lived and under-utilized malinvestments.”
The all-electric luxury electric SUV is getting significantly cheaper. Lexus launched a new entry-level 2025 RZ trim with starting prices over $10,000 less than last year’s model. And you get just as much driving range.
2025 Lexus RZ electric SUV prices and driving range
Lexus launched its first dedicated EV last year, the RZ electric SUV. Starting at $55,175, the 2024 Lexus RZ 300e has a range of up to 266 miles.
The 2024 RZ 450e AWD, equipped with its dual-moto DIRECT4 system, has a range of up to 196 miles. Prices start at just under $60,000. Both models are offered in Premium or Luxury packages.
Lexus is drastically lowering prices for the 2025 model year. The 2025 Lexus RZ starts at $43,975, and that includes the $1,175 delivery fee.
At under $44,000, prices for the 2025 RZ start at over $10,000 less than last year’s model. The lower price tag comes as Lexus added a new entry-level RZ 300e FWD trim to the lineup.
The 2025 Lexus RZ 300e FWD still has an EPA-estimated 266-mile range (18″ wheels), so despite the lower price, it’s no loss from last year’s model. It’s powered by a 72.8 kWh battery pack from global leader CATL.
Lexus modified the subframe for the FWD model, replacing the rear eAxle from the AWD model. The result is a quieter, smoother drive.
Powered by a 71.4 kWh battery, the 2025 RZ 450e AWD has an EPA-estimated driving range of up to 220 miles (18″ wheels).
| 2025 Lexus RZ model | Starting Price* | EPA-estimated Driving Range |
| RZ 450e AWD | $48,675 | 220 miles |
| RZ 450e Premium AWD w/ 18″ Wheel | $52,875 | 220 miles |
| RZ 450e Premium AWD w/ 20″ Wheel | $54,115 | 196 miles |
| RZ 450e Luxury AWD | $58,605 | 220 miles |
| RZ 300e FWD | $43,975 | 266 miles |
| RZ 300e Premium FWD w/ 18″ Wheel | $48,175 | 266 miles |
| RZ 300e Premium FWD w/ 20″ Wheel | $49,415 | 224 miles |
| RZ 300e Luxury FWD | $53,905 | 266 miles |
The 2025 Lexus RZ is available in three grades. These include the new entry-level model, in addition to the current Premium and Luxury trims.
Inside, the electric SUV has a minimalistic feel with a standard 14″ infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support at the center.
You can also opt for the available 10″ head-up display (HUD), Mark Levinson Surround Sound System, and a host of safety features.
The flat platform provides a spacious interior with 37.52″ of rear legroom, nearly as much as the second row of a Ford Explorer (39″).
With the 2025 model arriving at dealerships soon, Lexus is offering closeout prices on 2024 models with up to $18,500 in lease cash discounts. You can use our link to find the best offers on the Lexus RZ at a dealer near you today.
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Environment
‘Political malpractice’ if Trump undoes climate-geared Biden projects, outgoing U.S. energy secretary says
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm speaks to the media on day five at the UNFCCC COP29 Climate Conference on November 15, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
A potential decision by Donald Trump to walk back the Biden administration’s climate-geared projects would impact jobs in areas governed by the President-elect’s own party, outgoing U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told CNBC, urging consistency in Washington’s green transition policies.
Referencing the White House’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement — a 2015 treaty in which nearly 200 governments made non-binding pledges to reduce greenhouse emissions — during Trump’s first mandate, Granholm said the U.S. pressed ahead with projects linked to the green transition that members of Congress wanted to undertake in their districts.
“We are now building all of these projects. We’re building batteries for electric vehicles, we’re building the vehicles, we’re building the offshore wind turbines, we’re building the solar panels. And all of those are factories. And those factories are in districts of members of Congress,” she told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Friday at the COP29 U.N. climate conference held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
She estimated that 80% of the funding from U.S. President Joe Biden’s legacy bills — the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — went to U.S. districts represented by Republican leadership.
“It would be political malpractice to undo those opportunities when people are just now getting hired,” she said, stressing benefits to the manufacturing sector and noting that the business community of the world’s largest economy and oil producer now wants a clear course from Washington on its climate policy.
“This isn’t about in [the Paris Agreement], out, shifting back and forth. Let’s have a consistent practice,” she said.
When asked for a response on Granholm’s comments, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, said the president-elect will “deliver” on the promises he made on the campaign trail.
International focus has now shifted on the shape of the U.S.’ future role in global climate policy, as Trump prepares to take the helm at the White House for a second mandate in January, following a sweeping victory against Democrat candidate Kamala Harris. Trump — who has yet to announce his own pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy — put hydrocarbons at the front and center of his campaigning agenda, pledging to “end Biden’s delays in federal drilling permits and leases that are needed to unleash American oil and natural gas production.”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in March said that the country already “produced more crude oil than any nation at any time” for the past six years to 2023, averaging a crude oil and condensate production of 12.9 million barrels per day that year — breaking the previous U.S. and global record of 12.3 million barrels per day recorded in 2019, during Trump’s first mandate.
Yet Granholm on Friday stressed that the clean transition is also “unleashed” and will take place regardless of who is leading the White House — and that ignoring climate change risks sacrificing Washington’s position as a frontrunner in the blooming decarbonization industry.
“Why would we take a second, a backseat to an economic competitor like China?” she asked. “They have an economic strategy, they want to be number one. So if we get out of the game, we’re just going to cede that territory all over again. It’s bad strategy for the United States and for workers and for communities across the country.”
As the world braces for the possibility of a second U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement, some climate activists note that the green transition has now gained a different global momentum than during Trump’s first turn at the White House:
“There is no denying that another Trump presidency will stall national efforts to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment, but most U.S. state, local, and private sector leaders are committed to charging ahead,” Dan Lashof, U.S. director of the World Resources Institute, said in a Nov. 6 statement.
“Donald Trump heading back to the White House won’t be a death knell to the clean energy transition that has rapidly picked up pace these last four years.”
Granholm also identified potential support in Trump’s current entourage, which this week welcomed business tycoon Elon Musk as the president-elect’s choice to head a new Department of Government Efficiency, alongside conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy:
“His right-hand man, Elon Musk, is somebody who has been strongly in favor of products that … address climate change. Obviously, he’s the founder of Tesla,” Granholm pointed out.
Musk’s environmental stance has come under question over the years, shifting from telling Rolling Stone magazine that “climate change is the biggest threat that humanity faces this century, except for AI” and backing carbon taxes to holding that the world needs hydrocarbon supplies as a bridge to renewable energy.
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