When the US under the Trump administration completely ignored the climate summit in Belém, Brazil, and the EU suffered from internal friction, many have wondered whether the world's largest emitter – China – is ready to take over the leadership role in climate work.
Well, if you believe Wang Yi, who tells The Guardian that China wants to steer towards a green transition, but together with others.
According to Reuters, however, it has taken a more active role in the negotiations during the ongoing summit and helped bring together the participating countries.
China wants to spread its green technology around the world. In the country's prominent pavilion in Belém, a long line of large companies are showcasing what they have to offer in green technology.
Massive needs
As domestic competition has increased and the EU and US have imposed tariffs, China has turned its attention to emerging and developing countries. Last year, almost half of China's solar and wind exports went to such countries, according to a report by the think tank ODI.
"The energy demand in Africa is massive. Solar and wind power are some of the cheapest and fastest ways to gain capacity," report author Elena Kiryakova tells TT.
Some examples: In Kenya, the Garissa solar power park has been built by a Chinese company, financed by a Chinese bank. In South Africa, several large battery storage facilities have popped up, and in Brazil, the Chinese company BYD is manufacturing electric cars.
There is concern in developing countries about becoming too dependent on China, according to Kiryakova. But there is a lack of cost-effective alternatives.
In many large-scale projects, only Chinese companies submitted bids. The competition was between Chinese companies rather than with Western players, she says.
Leadership
Critics in the West have accused China of dumping its goods through government subsidies and overcapacity, while China has pointed out that tariffs and other measures from the West are slowing down the transition.
"On the one hand, you are asking China to speed up, on the other hand, you are introducing a number of measures that undermine that very process," Wang Yi told Bloomberg .
Ana de Toni, CEO of the climate summit, praises China's new role:
"China has shown leadership not only through its own energy revolution, but also through the fact that, with the help of China's scaling-up capacity, we can also buy low-carbon technology at competitive prices," she told Reuters.
China is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and last year accounted for 29 percent of global emissions.
But since March 2024 until the third quarter of this year, carbon dioxide emissions have been flat or decreased slightly, according to an analysis in Carbon Brief.
China is also the world's largest producer of green technology. Last year, four out of five solar panels and battery cells were produced here, as well as 70 percent of electric vehicles.
Last year, China exported green technology goods worth the equivalent of $114 billion. Almost half of its solar and wind power equipment exports went to developing and emerging countries.
Sources: Edgar, ODI, Embercarbon brief
