China. Like a thousand nuclear reactors
China's endless rise in its carbon footprint has been a major rhetorical justification for richer countries trying to slow down their own energy transitions.
The biggest consumer of carbon. The source of a third of annual greenhouse emissions, is finally turning a corner to a cleaner future.
China’s size is so overwhelming that when its fossil fuel consumption peaks, as it’s doing now, it will shift the direction of the whole planet.
Take oil demand. The country’s usage may have hit a ceiling already in 2023 before falling 1.2% last year
Coal is facing a similar moment. Production of pig iron and cement, which used to consume about a quarter of China’s total, is down around 18% since 2020.
The country now consumes more electricity, per capita, than the European Union.
In December, the capacity of China’s wind and solar plants overtook that of its fossil fuel generators for the first time.
Peak power from the 1.08 terawatts of solar installed at the end of May would be equivalent to that provided by a thousand nuclear reactors.
One pessimistic response to this is that China’s emissions won’t so much peak as hit an endless plateau.
Look at the pace of the clean energy rollout in China, and a rapid decline like we’re currently seeing in its oil use seems more plausible.
Bloomberg 3 July 2025
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