China Is Now the World's Climate Champion

"There is positive buzz around the COP30 climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil, but it has nothing do with the summit itself. The conferences began in 1992, and at that summit, world leaders laid the groundwork for the first international treaty to combat climate change. But these days, the UN-led summits are overrun with fossil-fuel lobbyists, and many of the largest industrial nations just ignore it. This year, the US is boycotting, and whatever emerges from it is not expected to meaningfully curb global emissions."

"Rather, the source of relief in Belém was the cumulative recognition-summed up in a widely circulated report by Ember, a global energy think tank-that China is streaking past the United States and the European Union in its clean-energy technology and industries. China is rolling out more than twice as much renewable capacity (solar and wind) as the rest of the world combined. As a result, China's carbon emissions were flat last year, and this year they should fall-while those worldwide climbed to record highs."

COP30 in Belém generated positive buzz despite the summit itself lacking meaningful influence on emissions. UN-led climate conferences have been infiltrated by fossil-fuel lobbyists and are often ignored by major industrial nations; the United States boycotted this year and no significant global-emissions curbs are expected. Ember reports show China outpacing the United States and the European Union in clean-energy technologies, deploying more than twice the renewable capacity (solar and wind) of the rest of the world combined. China's carbon emissions were flat last year and are expected to fall this year as China scales cheap solar and wind and exports clean-energy technology to other countries.

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